Second Giraffe's Life Will Be Spared -- For Now

Just days after the Copenhagen Zoo sparked international outrage over the killing of a healthy, young giraffe named Marius, another Danish zoo further fanned the flames by announcing that it too might destroy one of its giraffes, also named Marius.

Zookeepers at Jylland Park said that the possible acquisition of a new female giraffe would make Marius's genetic makeup redundant for breeding purposes, and he might have to be destroyed because of it -- part of a common practice among some zoos that's only beginning to gain public attention.

"If we are told we have to euthanize [Marius] we would of course do that," said Janni Løjtved Poulsen, to the Guardian.

Since that news broke, spurring a petition calling for the giraffe's life to be spared, Jyllands Park Zoo has revealed that it had been denied a female and therefore Marius will not be destroyed -- not yet, anyway.

"The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) have announced that Jyllands Park Zoo is not to receive a female giraffe any time soon as part of the programme," the zoo posted on its Facebook page. "As a result of this we will of course keep both our giraffes, as we have stated all along."

It is not clear whether outrage over the first Marius's needless death contributed to the EAZA's decision which ultimately saved the second from the same fate, though that would not be surprising given the negative exposure it's generated over the captive breeding program.

The Copenhagen Zoo's decision to euthanize Marius and publically feed his body to lions has been seen by some as potentially positive on the whole -- exposing, a breeding practice that claims the lives of thousands of healthy animals every year in zoos across Europe, behind closed doors.