In a extreme brutal act, Danish zoo staff dissected a nine-month-old lion cub in front of an audience of enthralled young children. The gruesome display enraged social media storm outside.
‘Butchers!’ wrote one commented on the zoo’s Facebook page, which included details of the dissection.
‘Exposing young people to animal dissection as ‘science’ can foster a callousness toward animals later on in life. Many countries are watching what you are doing with disgust … You need to stop,’ wrote another.
Some of the youngsters held their noses as zookeepers methodically sliced up the cat, the year after the public dismemberment of a dead giraffe at another Danish zoo triggered an equally fierce debate.
‘It smelled really bad but it was exciting to see what the lion looks like inside. It’s cool that it was so similar to a human,’ said 11-year-old Sofie Beyer, visiting the zoo in Odense, Denmark’s third largest town.
Staff gave a running commentary as they displayed the cub’s stomach. They have regularly defended the display, saying it would educate children about animals and the realities of life and death.
