COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – A European zoo organization says it supports a Danish park’s plan to dissect a year-old lion culled to avoid inbreeding, adding some of the online uproar disregards the educational part of it.
David Williams-Mitchell of the Amsterdam-based European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, on Wednesday said dissection is common in European schools and “is a very well-proven tool for teaching children about anatomy.”
The Odense Zoo will dissect the lion Thursday during the schools’ fall break.
Many Danes have posted positive comments on the zoo’s Facebook page with some agreeing that children will not be harmed by watching the dissection, which happens often in Denmark.
However, the zoo said Wednesday “threats or foul language” would be deleted after coarse language in English was used.