A Danish zoo's plan to dissect a lioness live on television pissed a fair amount of people off yesterday.The lion was put down nine months ago due to an excess of female lions, and the dissection date was chosen specifically to coincide with half term, so children could attend, for "educational purposes".This same zoo dissected a giraffe named Marius in 2014 because the animal was considered genetically unsuitable for reproduction. Denmark's pragmatic stance has been internationally criticised for being insensitive, as no other options were considered before putting down the animals. Denmark's stance on animal rights is considered to be utilitarian, to say the least: kids visit slaughterhouses on school trips, and the country is famous for it's annual whaling tradition in the Faroe islands.Indeed, dozens of children witnessed yesterday's event, which was also streamed live so we could all watch from our desks, and seem fazed only by the dead lion's smell. Although one girl did tell NBC that she "thought it as a bit weird at first because I had not been told whether it was dead or not."
