In memoriam Marius: film unpicks ethics behind Danish zoo’s controversial giraffe killing

‘To appreciate how amazing these animals are, you need to also see them from the inside,’ says the zoo’s scientific director in Life and Other Problems Photograph: Max Kestner

On a Sunday morning in February 2014, after a favourite breakfast of rye bread, 18-month-old giraffe Marius was killed with a penetrative captive bolt fired at his head by veterinary staff at Copenhagen zoo. His body was later cut up in front of a crowd of visitors that included several open-mouthed children, and then fed to the zoo’s lions.

Marius was neither dangerous nor ill. The zoo argued he had to die because his genes were too common for him to be suitable for breeding. Avoiding inbreeding, which is what Marius may have ended up doing as a grown male, was crucial to ensure the existence of a healthy giraffe population in European zoos, Copenhagen zoo’s scientific director, Bengt Holst, said at the time.