The event received worldwide media coverage and generated responses from several organisations and individuals, including death threats to staff at the zoo.

[13] A last-minute offer by EAZA member Yorkshire Wildlife Park to adopt Marius into a bachelor herd in its giraffe house was declined, according to Bengt Holst because the wildlife park's space would be better used by a "genetically more valuable giraffe" than Marius, whose brother already lived there.

[25][better source needed] Associated Press distributed a photo of the public dissection worldwide, heightening the attention to the case.

"[16] According to Bengt Holst, public dissection of deceased animals fits with the zoo's policy to educate people on nature and wildlife,[30] and is a normal practice in Denmark.

[34] The Executive Director of the North American Association of Zoos and Aquariums stated in response to public concerns that programs and procedures of EAZA vary from theirs.

[38][39] Dublin Zoo in Ireland was "saddened" by the giraffe's death, calling it "cold, calculated, cynical and callous".

[42] The director of Kraków Zoo in Poland, Józef Skotnicki, expressed deep disappointment with the EAZA attitude, the killing, and the public dissection.

Director Dag Encke noted that giraffes had more emotional appeal than some other species and that the policy and actions had been well considered.

[17]The Born Free Foundation called for, a review and amendment to EAZA euthanasia policies, to ensure healthy animals who can be relocated are not killed, and for increased transparency in zoos across Europe, with accurate recording and publication of the numbers of healthy animals that are destroyed in each licensed zoo in the region.

[50]PETA UK director Mimi Bekhechi has stated Marius' death should be a wake-up call for anyone who still harbors the illusion that zoos serve any purpose beyond incarcerating intelligent animals for profit[51]Esther Ouwehand, Member of the Dutch Parliament for the Party for the Animals asked the State Secretary for Economic Affairs for clarification on the practice in Dutch zoos and request for more strict European regulation on breeding programs.

[53] Members of the public started an international online petition directed at the Copenhagen Zoo to save Marius.

[54] Copenhagen Zoo managers confirmed that staff, including its head of conservation, received death threats by phone and email following the killing of Marius.

[60] Alan Posener, British-German columnist, condemned the killing and dissection as a sort of entertainment, which he saw as based on a fascination of violence.

[61] Robert Young, professor of Wildlife Conservation at the University of Salford, wrote that the case illustrated cultural and institutional differences in how zoos weigh aspects of the animals' quality of life.

Copenhagen Zoo, however, favours non-sterilization, fewer constraints on breeding and full periods of parenthood, though at the risk of shorter lives for the offspring.

[20][62] Éric Baratay, a professor in History at the Université Jean Moulin in Lyon, France, and a specialist in the relationship between humans and other animals, called the media transparency of the event "very surprising" as it concerns a baby giraffe, "since giraffes are among the most beloved animals among the public".

[63] Brendan O'Neill, British editor of Spiked magazine, criticized mass media presentation of the events as an example of sensationalist press tendencies.

[65] Marc Bekoff, American Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, said: "The cold justification for these killings offered by zoo workers chilled and scared me.