Danish zoo dissects lion cub before crowd of schoolchildren

Danish zoo staff dissected a nine-month-old lion cub in front of enthralled children on Thursday, as a social media storm raged.

Zookeepers methodically sliced up the cat, a year after the public dismemberment of a dead giraffe at another Danish zoo triggered a fierce debate. Staff said it would educate children about animals and life and death.

“Butchers!” wrote someone on the zoo’s Facebook page. “Exposing young people to animal dissection as ‘science’ can foster a callousness towards animals later on in life,” wrote another.

The cub was killed in February because her genes were common in Europe.

Reuters