WWF condemns murder of giraffe in Denmark but advises paying attention to other issues
MOSCOW. Feb 12 (Interfax) - The murder of a giraffe in the Copenhagen zoo is a mistake but not a reason to close zoos, head of the Russian branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) international non-governmental organization, Igor Chestin, told Interfax on Wednesday.
"Of course, this is a screw up. This, as they say, is inhumane," Chestin said.
A Young healthy giraffe named Marius was killed in the Copenhagen zoo on February 9. Marius was shot, for educational purposes in front of children and fed to lions.
"This is a mistake, but, I do not know. Should one accuse scientists? Are they worried about hurting the sensibilities of the visitors?" Chestin said.
"The giraffe was killed because he turned out to be not needed for the breeding program. Was this unclear when he was born? Why was it necessary to grow him for two years? If he was not needed and the zoo lacked funds, it was then necessary to get rid of the newborn, not name him, not let him grow up and not let visitors to get attached to him," Chestin said.
Despite the moral aspect of the incident, the attention to it is exaggerated, Chestin said.
"Many issues regarding nature exist. For instance, every ten hours a rhino is killed in the world. In recent years illegal hunting of rhinos enhanced the demand for rhino horns in Vietnam. What is happening is a nightmare," he said.
"The scale of illegal shootings of elephants in Central and Eastern Africa has grown suddenly. We are still worried about tigers as well because people are still poaching them," Chestin said.
"They should not be given up in any case. Zoos are very important." Chestin said.