Unapologetic Danish Zoo Program May Kill A Second Giraffe

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giraffe

Flickr/Adam Foster

Not the giraffe.

Just days after the Copehagen Zoo killed a young giraffe, a second zoo in the same country could follow suit, CNN reports.

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The second giraffe would be killed for the same reason as the first: because both zoos belong to the same breeding program ,and they don't want too many animals with the same genetic make-up.

Strangely, the giraffe in question shares the same name as the first - Marius.

Even more coincidentally, the second Marius' companion at the Jyllands Park Zoo is the first Marius' older brother.

If the zoo acquires a female to breed with the first Marius's older brother (more genetically valuable), then it would likely euthanize the second Marius.

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"We can't have two males and one female. Then there will be fights," zoo keeper Janni Lojtved Poulsen told the Telegraph.

Despite global outcry over the first giraffe's euthanization, the zoos maintain they're doing the right thing.

"Many places abroad where they do not do this, the animals live under poor conditions, and they are not allowed to breed either. We don't think that's OK," Poulsen explained.