A Danish zoo sparked outrage when it put down a young giraffe then chopped it up and fed it to lions as visitors, including young children, looked on.
The fate of 18-month-old Marius shocked animal lovers around the world, with thousands signing an online petition to save him and a billionaire offering to buy him and keep him in her Beverly Hills garden.
Copenhagen Zoo said the action was necessary to prevent inbreeding and Marius was put down with a bolt gun after being anaesthetised.
A crowd of visitors, including small children, looked on as an autopsy was carried out and the animal skinned and chopped up.
Some grimaced while others took photos.
A full-maned lion later tucked into the giraffe's remains in full view of the public.
The zoo said it had no choice other than to prevent the animal attaining adulthood in a long explanation of its decision published on its website.
Under European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) rules, inbreeding between giraffes is to be avoided, it said on its website.
Although Marius was healthy, his genes were already well represented in Europe and he could not be taken in by the 300 other EAZA-affiliated zoos as that would cause inbreeding.
"When breeding success increases it is sometimes necessary to euthanise. We see this as a positive sign and as insurance that we in the future will have a healthy giraffe population in European zoos," it said.
The giraffe's impending death sparked outrage online, with more than 5,000 people signing a "Save Marius" Facebook petition.
