{"id":1041,"date":"2014-02-22T21:09:32","date_gmt":"2014-02-22T21:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=1041"},"modified":"2014-02-23T00:07:58","modified_gmt":"2014-02-23T00:07:58","slug":"danes-and-dead-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2014\/02\/22\/danes-and-dead-animals\/","title":{"rendered":"Danes and Dead Animals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Giraffa<\/a>This February a somewhat macabre topic has been haunting Danish media \u2013 and foreign web sites writing about Denmark: d\u00f8de dyr<\/strong> (dead animals).<\/span><\/p>\n

I starten af m\u00e5neden<\/strong> (at the beginning of the month), K\u00f8benhavn Zoo<\/strong> announced that they were going to kill Marius, a fit and healthy two-year-old giraf<\/strong> [gheeRAFF]. (What? How could anyone be that cruel!)<\/em>\u00a0Nyheden<\/strong> (the piece of news) spread like wildfire throughout the Internet. All of a sudden, people i hele verden<\/strong> (in the entire world), and especially in USA<\/strong>, saw Danes as bloodthirsty barbarians. The director of den zoologiske have<\/strong> (the zoological garden) received d\u00f8dstrusler<\/strong> (death threats), and the American ambassador felt compelled to make a statement in support of the zoo\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

According to the zoo people, Marius was indavlet<\/strong> (inbred). That\u2019s why they couldn\u2019t give him to another zoo. Dyr<\/strong> (animals) in European zoos are bred according to a strict avlsprogram<\/strong> (breeding program) to keep them genetically fit. And the zoo had run out of plads<\/strong> [plas] (space) for Marius to roam.<\/p>\n

P\u00e5 trods af protesterne<\/strong> (in spite of the protests), Marius was aflivet<\/strong> (put down) in the early morning hours of s\u00f8ndag den 9. februar<\/strong>. At 10 o\u2019 clock the animal was autopsied in public, and people were invited to take a look at\u00a0giraffens indre organer<\/strong> (the giraffe\u2019s inner organs). Thereafter, its k\u00f8d<\/strong> (meat) was given to the zoo\u2019s rovdyr<\/strong> (predators).<\/p>\n

\"Kaskelot\"<\/a>What happens next? Incredibly, a week later en hval strander<\/strong> (a whale is stranded) on Henne strand<\/strong> (beach) on the West Coast of Jutland. Then follows another hval<\/strong> [val]. The two enormous kaskelothvaler<\/strong> (sperm whales) are unable to get back to the deep seas. One is dead and the other is dying.<\/p>\n

Within hours, konservatorer<\/strong> (museum conservators) were on their way to bj\u00e6rge<\/strong> [BYARweh] (rescue) and dissect the two kadavere<\/strong> (carcasses) with a motorsav<\/strong> (chainsaw). Soon, Henne Beach was swarming with people who wanted to catch a glimpse of the whales.<\/p>\n

As with Marius, many people were forarget<\/strong> (outraged) by the way the two whales were treated. Locals turned the dissection into a folkeforlystelse<\/strong> (popular entertainment), and people were busy taking fotos<\/strong> of themselves in front or even on top of the big animals. A newspaper wrote: Bedstefor\u00e6ldre tager b\u00f8rneb\u00f8rn med til hvalpartering.<\/strong> (Grandparents are bringing grandchildren to whale-quartering.)<\/p>\n

By now you\u2019ve maybe got the impression that Danes have no respect for animals. There is no way I\u2019ll defend people jumping on a dying whale, but I do think, however, that you should note that few Danes are religious (compared to, for example, Americans). Many people here have a practical \u201ddown-to-earth\u201d attitude to a lot of things, and don\u2019t spend a lot of time being solemn. Animals die, people have sex, so why not accept nature and make a joke about it. (As you\u2019ve probably already guessed, there is a flipside to all this Danish lightheartedness: It sometimes becomes too sarcastic and insensitive to other people\u2019s feelings. Does anyone remember the Mohammad cartoon crisis?)<\/em><\/p>\n

What do you think? Was it wrong to kill the giraffe? Should we show more reverence for animals, like the dying whales at Henne?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

This February a somewhat macabre topic has been haunting Danish media \u2013 and foreign web sites writing about Denmark: d\u00f8de dyr (dead animals). I starten af m\u00e5neden (at the beginning of the month), K\u00f8benhavn Zoo announced that they were going to kill Marius, a fit and healthy two-year-old giraf [gheeRAFF]. (What? How could anyone be…<\/p>\n

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