RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
In Europe, it is not uncommon for zoos to euthanize animals as a method of population control. Most zoos are not anxious to publicize that fact. Denmark is different. Zoos there often go a step further by dissecting the animal in front of an audience, including children. This past weekend, one zoo did just that with a lion, and Sidsel Overgaard paid a visit.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (Foreign language spoken).
SIDSEL OVERGAARD, BYLINE: It's a cold day, and the brightly-colored snow suits worn by Danish children makes it easy to pick them out of the crowd here at the Odense Zoo. There are dozens, all ages, many of them standing as close as possible to the lion laid out on the table.
LIV: (Foreign language spoken).
OVERGAARD: Six-year-old Liv and her grandmother Dorit Boshau are discussing whether they can see the beginnings of a mane.
LIV: (Foreign language spoken).
OVERGAARD: "We're here to see the lion cut open," Liv explains. Her grandmother says they talked about it yesterday and decided they should come.
DORIT BOSHAU: (Through interpreter) I feel like it's good for children to see how it really works. They aren't hurt by that. I really don't think they are.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (Foreign language spoken).
OVERGAARD: After talking for a while about the lion's coat and claws, the zoo's educator, a biology student from the local university, begins to cut. At this point, a handful of children walk out. But for the most part, the audience stays put, covering their noses as the smell becomes overwhelming but apparently riveted by what they're seeing.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (Foreign language spoken).
OVERGAARD: The student points out the many similarities between the lion's anatomy and our own. At one point, she pulls out an air compressor, and everyone watches as the sponge-like lungs, nothing like the simplistic balloons of children's books, fill with air.
(APPLAUSE)
ANNE-DICTE: (Foreign language spoken).
OVERGAARD: Seven-year-old aspiring zookeeper Anne-Dicte and her dad Jan Pedersen give the event two thumbs up.
JAN PEDERSEN: It's a natural part of living. We're eating meat almost every day. I know we don't eat lion, but to see how animals look inside, that's being a part of growing up and getting wiser.
OVERGAARD: Given the international media storm that followed the killing and dissection of a giraffe at the Copenhagen Zoo two years ago, Danes are well aware that the rest of the world does not always share this perspective. Critics argue that these displays are desensitizing at best and traumatizing at worst. But this is the culture of Denmark, says Jessica Alexander, American co-author of "The Danish Way Of Parenting."
JESSICA ALEXANDER: Danes are very, very honest with their children about life.
OVERGAARD: She says while some may see a lion dissection as shocking, most Danes see it as an educational opportunity.
ALEXANDER: Maybe kids are going to come out of this and become animal activists and vegans. We don't know what kind of effect it's going to have on them, but they're going to be free to make up their own mind about it.
OVERGAARD: Alexander says she trusts Danish parents to know whether their children can handle events like this. Another spectator, Jens Jessen, says he had a chat with his nine-year-old son Rasmus before they came to the zoo today.
JENS JESSEN: I said to him, if you think it's too much, then tell it to me, and then we'll just go away. But he was totally absorbed by it. The little one - I had a little one. He thought it was too much, so we went over to the playground.
OVERGAARD: Rasmus chimes in.
RASMUS: (Foreign language spoken).
OVERGAARD: "That's just how it is for the little ones," he says. "Sometimes they don't think it's so interesting, and they'd rather do something else." For NPR News, I'm Sidsel Overgaard in Denmark.