Controversial Copenhagen Zoo Official: Zoos Are Selling Disney "Fairy Tales"
Zoos around the world are trying hiding the realities of nature from visitors, some say.
The zoo official who euthanized a giraffe and four lions earlier this year may be stoking more controversy.
Many zoos, especially in the United States, are perpetuating a fairy-tale world that masks the realities of nature from visitors, he said this week in Copenhagen.
"We should not tell the Disney story that animals are only cute and only get born and never die," said Bengt Holst, the Copenhagen Zoo's science director, at the 2014 Euroscience Open Forum. "We have to tell the real story: 'Death is a natural consequence of life.' If [we] don't tell that story, [we're doing] a bad job, because then we don't work for conservation—we work for an imaginary world." (Related: "Hey Kids, All
