A zoo in Denmark is asking for donations of small pets as food for its predators to help their larger predators have a diverse diet.
Aalborg Zoo, in northern Denmark, said they’re attempting to mimic the natural food chain of the animals housed there ‘for the sake of both animal welfare and professional integrity’.
The zoo said pets offered would be ‘gently euthanised’ by trained staff, and suggested guinea pigs, rabbits and chickens as possible donations.
Aalborg Zoo’s big predators include Sumatran tigers, Asiatic lions, and European lynx.
In a Facebook post, they explained: ‘Chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs make up an important part of the diet of our predators – especially in the European locust, which needs whole prey, which is reminiscent of what it would naturally hunt in the wild.
‘In zoos, we have a responsibility to imitate the natural food chain of the animals, in terms of both animal welfare and professional integrity.
‘If you have an animal that has to leave here for various reasons, feel free to donate it to us. The animals are gently euthanised by trained staff and are afterwards used as fodder. That way, nothing goes to waste.’
The post was met with such backlash that the zoo was forced to turn off the comment section – but not before animal lovers flooded it.
One wrote: ‘Imagine giving away your pet/animal as fodder, it hardly gets more disrespectful and unworthy than that…’
Another added: ‘I took a horse to the zoo, a few years ago. It was the quietest and most serene way it went down. It was the best experience for both the horse and I. The staff was sweet and took care of it in the finest way, and were grateful for the donation.’
In a statement, the zoo later said: ‘For many years at Aalborg Zoo, we have fed our carnivores with smaller livestock. When keeping carnivores, it is necessary to provide them with meat, preferably with fur, bones, etc., to give them as natural a diet as possible.
‘Therefore, it makes sense to allow animals that need to be euthanised for various reasons to be of use in this way. In Denmark, this practice is common, and many of our guests and partners appreciate the opportunity to contribute.’
In 2014, Copenhagen Zoo faced backlash for killing a healthy baby giraffe and feeding it to a lion as part of a diet.
The giraffe, named Marius, was killed in a bid to ‘avoid inbreeding’.
In a statement then, the zoo said: ‘When giraffes breed as well as they do now, then you will inevitably run into so-called surplus problems now and then.’
But the killing was controversial, as many zoos offered to take in the giraffe – but Copenhagen Zoo said it would cause inbreeding.
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