Many Danes have defended the killing of a healthy but inbred giraffe at Copenhagen's zoo after it was chopped up and fed to lions in front of visitors.
Copenhagen Zoo staff received death threats after the killing on Sunday of the 18-month-old animal, named Marius, which shocked animal lovers around the world.
Thousands signed an online petition to save him, with a billionaire even offering to buy him and keep him in her Beverly Hills garden.
But in Denmark, a nation with many farms, an overwhelming majority of social media users felt the global outcry was a sign of hypocrisy and political correctness.
A leading expert also decried the "Disneyfication" of zoo animals, while a Danish academic said the issue exposed cultural differences.
A journalist for the Politiken newspaper, Kristian Madsen, wrote on Twitter: "The whole world has gone crazy. What do they imagine the lions eat on days without a treat such as Marius? Brussel sprouts?"
Mikkel Dahlqvist, a PR consultant, tweeted: "Marius had a good home at the zoo for a year and a half. He lived, and now the lions are also happy and full."
The zoo said on its website it had no choice other than to prevent the animal attaining adulthood since under European Association of Zoos and Aquaria rules, inbreeding between giraffes is to be avoided.
The relatively muted public reaction in Denmark to Marius's death can also partly be explained by cultural factors.
"Denmark was urbanised relatively late, which is why the general opinion here is that it's okay to keep and kill animals as long as you treat them well," said Peter Sandoee, a professor of bioethics at the University of Copenhagen.
