Danish Zoo Spares Second Giraffe Named Marius

Jyllands Park Zoo says no plans to kill its giraffe, which shares a name with euthanized beast

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Joern Deleuran / Scanpix / Reuters

A young giraffe is seen at the Danish Jyllands Park Zoo, in this picture taken January 18, 2014.

A Danish zoo has announced it will not euthanize one of its healthy giraffes as Copenhagen Zoo did last week, a decision that has brought relief to animal lovers who feared the worst.

Jyllands Park Zoo announced Friday on its Facebook page that it would not kill one of its male giraffes, who happens to share the name Marius with the giraffe who was slaughtered, chopped up and fed to lions, tigers and leopards last week at Copenhagen Zoo.

Zookeepers at Jyllands Park Zoo had said Thursday that if new females were brought in to breed, it might have to “euthanize” its own Marius. But the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria is not bringing in a new female, said the zoo.

“There is no plan, and there has never been a plan to neither move or euthanize any of our giraffes. The media stories are only based on a hypothetical situation,” said the zoo in a Facebook post. ” This situation now seems to be eliminated.”

More: Chilling Footage Shows Giraffe Being Fed to Lions at Danish Zoo