Have I wasted 50 years?

 46,401 visitors and no one is interested in the exotics related books or even donating to continuing the work? 

After 50 years (next year) it would be nice to see some interest. Or have I wasted 50 years😩

Danish zoo asks pet owners to donate rabbits and horses to feed its predators

 Miranda Bryant Nordic correspondent

Mon 4 August 2025 at 3:57 pm BST·3-min read

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/danish-zoo-asks-pet-owners-145720328.html

A zoo in Denmark is appealing for donations of healthy small pets to be “gently euthanised” and fed to predators.

Aalborg zoo has urged willing chicken, rabbit and guinea pig owners to hand over their pets to be eaten whole by animals including European lynx.

Live donations, it said, would be killed by trained staff. It promised that “nothing goes to waste”, and also said it would “gratefully” receive live horses.

The zoo said such animals were needed in order to “imitate the animals’ natural food chain – for the sake of both animal welfare and professional integrity”.

“Chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs form an important part of the diet of our predators,” Aalborg zoo wrote in a social media post alongside a picture of an openmouthed lynx. “Especially the European lynx, which needs whole prey that resembles what it would naturally hunt in the wild.”

It added: “If you have a healthy animal that needs to be put down for various reasons, you are welcome to donate it to us. The animals are gently euthanised by trained staff and then used as food. That way, nothing goes to waste – and we ensure natural behaviour, nutrition and wellbeing of our predators.”

To find out more about the scheme, pet owners are encouraged to click on a web link – illustrated by a tiger tucking into a hunk of meat – that outlines the finer details of its pet euthanasia scheme.

The zoo also said it would welcome horses, which would be slaughtered for food. “Our needs vary throughout the year and there may be a waiting list,” it added.

Any horse donated to the zoo must have a horse passport and come with the opportunity for a tax deduction on the horse’s value, which is calculated on the basis of its weight.

The social media post has attracted a wide array of reactions and comments. Some criticised the appeal, with one describing it as a “sick invention”.

Others spoke out in support. “I took a horse to the zoo a few years ago,” said one. “It was the most peaceful and calm way it happened.”

Pia Nielsen, deputy director of Aalborg zoo, 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. The livestock we receive as donations are chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, and horses.”

Last week a zoo in Nuremberg, Germany, prompted outcry – including from a woman who glued her hands to the ground near the zoo entrance in protest - after culling 12 healthy Guinea baboons due to overcrowding in their enclosure and reportedly feeding them to the lions in view of the public.

Incompetent Zoos Need to Close:Outcry after German zoo culled baboons due to overcrowding

 If you are a zoo and you keep animals then you are the body responsible for their welfare. If the birth control was not working then there was something going wrong in how it was used. The fact is, as I know from archival research going back to the 1700s, "excess stock" was sold off, traded for animals a zoo never had or killed. It was a "financial decision" that no one questioned.

To allow these primates to undergo the stress of knowing that their community is being killed is the vilest and lowest act any such establishment can undertake.  "Too many" then you are not really fit for purpose and if you have given baboons to other establishments and they have the same problem there is a major problem in the system and killing is not and never should be the response.

Incompetency at zoos comes in many forms. The Aalborg Zoo, home to more than 1,500 animals representing 126 species, said it was trying to imitate the 'natural food chain' of the animals housed in its grounds by feeding them 'whole prey' for 'welfare' purposes. The organisation suggested chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs make up an 'important' part of the diet of its predators, which include tigers and lions. oh, and any animal you donate their staff will "humanely euthanise" -well they cannot be using chemical euthanasia as the meat would not be usable so its a bolt gun or ringing necks.

Here is where these pea- brained morons running such zoos show their lack of any intelligent thought. Every day they probably drive to work and pass road kill rabbits, foxes, birds of various sorts -in the early 1980s driving down a Dutch road we gave up counting the number and types of road kill. Traffic is worse today:

It is estimated that around 194 million birds and 29 million mammals are killed annually on European roads. This translates to a significant impact on biodiversity, with roads posing a major threat through collisions with vehicles. These numbers highlight the scale of wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) in Europe. 

In the UK road kill is high. So what do these zoos need to do? Hire a van or send one of their vehicles out each morning and do a drive around picking up road-kill. They should have van full pretty quickly.  Problem solved and it is all free while performing a public service. Or willlthat drag them away from their warm little offices/

In the UK wildlife rescues also complain about not getting enough food donations for the animals lsthey are looking after. Same thing: send a van out and pick up road kill and I do know peoplewho have picked up road-kill and fed it to foxes and badgers.

From an advocate for zoos as conservation establishments I have become far more anti-zoo andthe examples would make any sensible person anti zoo.

Image source,AP

Image caption,

Contraceptive methods to control the zoo's Guinea baboon population had failed, the zoo said

James Chater

BBC News

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyr2gzlvdeo

Published
30 July 2025

A zoo in the southern German city of Nuremberg has culled 12 healthy Guinea baboons due to overcrowding in their enclosure, after which they were fed to predators.

Seven animal rights activists were arrested on Tuesday after they entered the Tiergarten Nürnberg zoo in protest against the decision. One woman glued her hands to the ground near the entrance.

Overcrowding had caused an "increase in conflicts" between the baboons and no alternative for re-housing them could be found, the zoo said.

Christoph Maisack, head of the German Legal Association for Animal Protection Law, said letting the animals breed too freely "cannot constitute such a reason" for their killing.

The zoo in Nuremberg had announced plans to kill some Guinea baboons last year, after its population exceeded 40 - more than the 25 that could be housed by a complex completed in 2009.

Zoos in other countries that baboons had previously been sent to had also reached capacity and contraception measures had failed to slow the population growth, the zoo said.

On Tuesday morning, the zoo announced that it was closing for "operational reasons", triggering demonstrators to climb over the zoo's fence near the entrance, where they were arrested.

Later, the zoo confirmed that it had killed the baboons - none of which were pregnant females or part of scientific studies. The animals were shot, samples were taken for research purposes, then their bodies were fed to the zoo's predators.

Dag Encke, the zoo's director, said the decision came after "yearslong consideration", and that the culling of animals can be a "legitimate last resort to preserve the population".

Encke added that the action was in line with criteria set out by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA).

Animal rights groups have filed a criminal complaint against the zoo for culling baboons which were in "perfect health".

A spokesperson for Pro Wildlife said the decision was "avoidable and illegal", adding: "Healthy animals had to be killed because the zoo maintained irresponsible and unsustainable breeding policies for decades."

European zoos have previously sparked controversy for culling animals.

In 2014, a zoo in Copenhagen culled a giraffe - named Marius - because his genes were too close to the other giraffes in the zoo's breeding programme.

A post-mortem of the giraffe - during which the carcass was skinned, cut up and then fed to the lions - was broadcast live online.