Last year I was lucky enough to spend some quality time with a bunch of Giraffes, in fact I did it twice - the first time was at Sydney's amazing Toranga zoo. As part of a stay over package called the "roar and snore" - I got up close to these gentle giants and fed them, it was a special experience.

This was probably why I leapt at the chance to do it again at Wellington zoo (which is also a really well run zoo). One look into a giraffes big gentle and intelligent eyes and you're hooked - they're really sweet creatures. If you don't believe me, just check out the picture of Marius, a beautiful 2 year old male giraffe formerly at Copenhagen Zoo.

The reason I write this is that I've just heard the sickening news this morning that Copenhagen zoo executed Marius and then publicly dissected him in front of a shocked crowd before feeding his remains to a lion.

Animals being fed to animals mightn't be terribly unusual at zoos, hell animals have to eat, but the really sickening thing about the sensless killing of Marius the baby giraffe was that it was avoidable.

That Marius's days were numbered at Copenhagen was no big secret. The zoo had been petitioned for months by tens of thousands of people. A donor even offered 881,000 euros towards the cost of transporting Marius to another zoo.

The PR flacks at Copenhagen zoo say that there were no zoos who could have taken Marius as he didn't fit the reqirements for genetic diversity (avoiding inbreeding is a huge issue for zoos as wild populations of animals begin to vanish).

Trouble is this has since been proven to be utter bullshit as Yorkshire wildlife park had been frantically trying to call Copenhagen zoo to take Marius. They were ignored and Marius was killed.

So lets just recap.

1) Copenhagen zoo had a surplus giraffe (the refuse to use contraception so inbreeding and over crowding happens)
2) They decided the kill this animal even though tens of thousands of people begged them not to
3) A donor offered a considerable sum of money to cover the cost of transporting this animal to another zoo (881,00 euros is the figure commonly quoted)
4) The Yorkshire wildlife park had offered to take Marius, yet their offer was ignored
5) Marius, a 2 year old male giraffe was executed using a bolt gun
6) His remains were dissected in front of a crowd of startled people, many of whom were young children
7) Marius's dissected remains were then fed to lions

If  like me you are utterly sickened by this revolting PR stunt when this death was avoidable, you are not alone.

A petition has been started that is calling for the official who authorized Marius's death to be fired.

I say that is probably a good start and Copenhagen zoo should be held to account for this obscenity. If you feel similarly sickened, you can sign the petition here

Please share the petition link with everyone you know as this despicable act cannot go unpunished and a clear message needs to be sent so other zoos think twice before doing something similar in the future.

At the time of writing over 120,000 people from around the globe have already signed it. Perhaps there's hope after all. Me, I am off to hug my greyhounds as this whole affair just makes me feel incredibly sad.