--- title: Copenhagen Zoo Offers Explanation for Lion Cull description: Same zoo that killed Marius the giraffe says it put down lions to avoid inbreeding and to make room for a new male canonical: https://time.com/39699/danish-zoo-lions-giraffe-killed-explanation/ author: Michelle Arrouas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-27T06:20:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:08:14.230Z og:title: Copenhagen Zoo Offers Explanation for Lion Cull og:description: Same zoo that killed Marius the giraffe says it put down lions to avoid inbreeding and to make room for a new male og:url: https://time.com/39699/danish-zoo-lions-giraffe-killed-explanation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b8ab2f635df3380/6986878106f2c1769f32e138/rtr3in5k.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: File photo of a lion and her cubs entering a lion enclosure for the first time in Copenhagen Zoo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Copenhagen Zoo Offers Explanation for Lion Cull twitter:description: Same zoo that killed Marius the giraffe says it put down lions to avoid inbreeding and to make room for a new male twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b8ab2f635df3380/6986878106f2c1769f32e138/rtr3in5k.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Danish Zoo Tries To Explain Why It Killed Four Healthy Lions by [Michelle Arrouas](/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Mar 27, 2014 6:20 AM CUT  A lion and her cubs were euthanized together with their father this week in Copenhagen to make way for a new male A lion and her cubs were euthanized together with their father this week in Copenhagen to make way for a new male©Reuters by [Michelle Arrouas](/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Mar 27, 2014 6:20 AM CUT Little more than a month after it caused global dismay by euthanizing a healthy giraffe named Marius, a Danish zoo is again is the spotlight for putting down four healthy lions — a male, female and two cubs. In a [statement](http://zoo.dk/BesogZoo/Nyhedsarkiv/2014/Marts/Why%20Copenhagen%20Zoo%20made%20a%20change%20in%20the%20lion%20pride.aspx "undefined") on its website, Copenhagen Zoo says that it culled the animals this week to avoid inbreeding, as the euthanized male might have mated with his own offspring if he hadn’t been put down. It added that the killings “had to happen now” to make way for a new male, who would have killed all sexually immature young lions if he were not himself killed by the now euthanized female. That explanation may prove to be too little and too late. Outrage is once again spreading on the Internet, where more than 87,000 people have signed a [petition](http://www.thepetitionsite.com/684/789/994/tell-copenhagen-zoo-to-stop-killing-healthy-animals/ "undefined") to tell the zoo to stop killing healthy animals, and close to 36,000 have liked a [Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/closecopenhagenzoo "undefined") demanding that the zoo be shut down. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/39699/danish-zoo-lions-giraffe-killed-explanation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/39699/danish-zoo-lions-giraffe-killed-explanation/"},"headline":"A Danish Zoo Tries To Explain Why It Killed Four Healthy Lions","datePublished":"2014-03-27T06:20:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:08:14.230Z","description":"Yes, this is the same zoo that killed Marius the healthy young giraffe","url":"https://time.com/39699/danish-zoo-lions-giraffe-killed-explanation/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Denmark","Lions"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b8ab2f635df3380/6986878106f2c1769f32e138/rtr3in5k.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Arrouas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b8ab2f635df3380/6986878106f2c1769f32e138/rtr3in5k.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"File photo of a lion and her cubs entering a lion enclosure for the first time in Copenhagen Zoo","caption":"File photo of a lion and her cubs entering a lion enclosure for the first time in Copenhagen Zoo","creditText":"©Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/39699/danish-zoo-lions-giraffe-killed-explanation/","name":"A Danish Zoo Tries To Explain Why It Killed Four Healthy Lions"}}]}] ```