The Copenhagen Zoo Giraffe Killing Controversy stems from the 2014 decision by the Danish zoo to euthanize Marius, a healthy young giraffe, to manage the genetic diversity of their breeding program. Despite international petitions and offers from other institutions to take the animal, the zoo proceeded with a public necropsy as an educational event before feeding the remains to the resident lions. The incident sparked a massive global debate between scientific pragmatism and animal welfare ethics. On the internet, the event lives on through memes that range from dark humor about the zoo's clinical approach to social commentary on the public's selective outrage regarding nature and conservation.