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Feb 27, 2014 02:00 am | Dmitry Shlapentokh
The
world is not a peaceful place, and many of the problems are directly
related to Russia. Still, besides the predictable topics of the Sochi
Olympics and turmoil in nearby Ukraine, Russian politicians and what
seems to be thousands of ordinary Russians have become focused on the
fate of two young giraffes, both named “Marius,” in Danish zoos. One was
killed by zoo officials to prevent inbreeding; the other seems now to
have avoided such a fate, at least for now. While the killing of the
first Marius led to protests by defenders of animals in the West,
apparently it was only in Russia where the defense of giraffes reached
such a high level and such high-pitched public indignation. Indeed, the
conservative Zavtra, one of the leading Russian newspapers,
published pictures on its front page of the young giraffe with what
looks like an innocent teenage boy with the caption “They Killed
Marius!’Sergei Donskoi, Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation expressed indignation, as did Vitaly Milonov, a member of the St. Petersburg government. Finally, Ramzan Kadyrov, Viceroy of Chechnya, proposed bringing the second Marius to Chechnya where he promised him a comfortable place in the zoo and good medical treatment.
Why such an interest in the fate of a giraffe?
read morehttp://nationalinterest.org/commentary/marius-the-giraffe-russias-model-dissident-9963
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