After Marius the giraffe, Copenhagen Zoo kills four lions

Lioness and cub at Copenhagen Zoo, 2013

In February Copenhagen Zoo coaxed Marius, a baby giraffe, into a yard, giving him his favourite food of rye bread.

He was then shot in the head from behind and dissected in front of children, before parts of the carcass were fed to lions.

The decision to euthanise the giraffe using a bolt gun sparked outrage from animal rights activists, including an online petition with 25,000 signatures.

British and Swedish zoos, including Yorkshire Wildlife Park, had put in last-ditch bids to re-home the animal.

On Tuesday, the zoo hit the headlines again when it put down four lions to make way for a new male.

However, unlike Marius, the dead lions will not be dissected in front of the public.

The zoo’s chief executive, Steffen Straede, told the Guardian website: “Not all our animals are dissected in front of an audience.”

Last month the comment by Bengt Holst, the zoo’s scientific director, that Marius was being killed because he was “surplus”, provoked outrage.

However, Mr Holst told Channel 4 News that he liked “animals very much” and that he was killing them in order to “save them.”