BY OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
A zoo in Denmark has put out a call for people to donate unwanted pets and animals — including chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs — so they can be used to feed its predators.
Aalborg Zoo, which sits on the outskirts of the city of the country’s northwest, put out a call Thursday for unwanted animals on its social media channels.
Donated pets will be “gently euthanized” by trained staff and then used as “fodder” to take care of the well-being of predators, it said, alongside a photo showing a lynx baring its teeth.
Chicken, rabbits and guinea pigs would be welcome as food for its meat-eaters, the post said.
The post echoed a similar appeal that appeared on the zoo’s website earlier this year, which also called for horses to be donated so long as they were no taller than 4 feet 10 inches, healthy and not treated for illness in the past 30 days.
Horse owners can obtain a tax deduction for the value of the animal, it said.
Zoos have a “responsibility to imitate the natural food chain” for carnivores that need whole prey for a hunting experience similar to that in the wild, the post said.
“If you have a healthy animal that has to leave here for various reasons, feel free to donate it to us,” it added. “We ensure natural behavior, nutrition and well-being of our predators.”
The post was met with criticism from some people.
“The idea that a zoo, of all places, is encouraging people to drop off their animals to be killed and fed to lions and tigers is, to me, incredibly disturbing,” one user wrote on Facebook.
Aalborg Zoo has been feeding its carnivores smaller livestock for many years, deputy director Pia Nielsen said, “to give them as natural a diet as possible.”
“Therefore, it makes sense to allow animals that need to be euthanized for various reasons to be of use in this way,” she said in an email. “In Denmark, this practice is common, and many of our guests and partners appreciate the opportunity to contribute.”
The zoo said it had closed the comments section in a later update.
“We understand that the post arouses emotions and interest, but hateful and malicious rhetoric is not necessary — and we encourage everyone to maintain a respectful tone,” the zoo wrote.
It is not unheard of for animals to be fed to predators after they have died in a zoo or culled from healthy animal populations.
In 2014, Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark’s capital courted controversy when it killed an 18-month-old giraffe called Marius with a bolt gun and fed him to the lions, saying the animal was “unwanted.”
An online petition with thousands of signatures failed to save him and the zoo said at the time that Marius had been euthanized to avoid inbreeding.
