I hate the Copenhagen Zoo

[KDLarsen]

54. What's the alternative...?

First of all, the headline is wrong, it was an aging male and a female.

The male was put down, as he was starting to make advances on lionesses he had sired himself (ie. inbreeding, which is bad), since they were reaching sexual maturity.

Because they would then have to bring in a new male lion in, to assume the alpha male status in the lion pride, they were faced with a problem with the female. She's 15 years old, already above the average lifespan on a lion in the wild, but a new male would most likely try to breed with her anyway, and the Zoo staff determined she wouldn't have the strength to go through another round of pregnancy and care for potential offspring.

This in turn lead to a problem with the two cubs she was already caring for, as they're not yet old enough to take care of themselves, and had they stayed at Copenhagen Zoo, the new male lion would have killed them.

Since the Copenhagen Zoo is a member of EAZA, that puts a limit on where the animals could be transferred to (they cannot be sold or given away, as EAZA members don't consider themselves the owners of the animals, merely their caretakers). They did try to relocate them, but no Zoos or wildlife parks offered space for them.