A zoo in Denmark is asking pet owners to donate their animal companions — their guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens and even small horses — to feed to its predators.
In a Facebook post last Thursday, the Aalborg Zoo noted that it welcomed animals that, regardless of circumstance, might be nearing the end of their lives. These animals would be “gently euthanized” by trained employees and then used as food for the zoo’s predators, like its European lynx, the zoo notes on its website. Lions and tigers are also part of the zoo’s predator exhibits.
The donations would help the zoo mimic the natural food chain by feeding whole prey to its predators, the post said: “This way, nothing goes to waste, and we ensure natural behavior, nutrition, and well-being for our predators.”
The post linked to the zoo’s website, which described the process for donating horses as food. “Our needs vary throughout the year, and there may be a waiting list,” the site explains. For horses, certain conditions must be met, including the horse not having recently been treated for an illness.
“The horse will be delivered alive to Aalborg Zoo, where the horse will be euthanized by a zookeeper and a veterinarian and then slaughtered,” the zoo website says.
The zoo also accepts chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs, during weekdays “between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., but no more than four at a time.”
The Facebook post attracted swift backlash, with one commenter describing “a terrible trend of indifference with animals in Denmark.” Another commenter wrote that “feeding pets is absolutely unacceptable.”
Aalborg Zoo did not immediately respond to request for comment. A spokeswoman for the zoo told Popular Science that “for many years” its employees “have fed our carnivores with smaller livestock.”
Other commenters on Facebook praised the initiative and even requested more details about how to donate their animals. One described their own experience donating a rabbit as a “super nice and professional experience.”
Signe Flyvholm, who lives in Denmark and has visited Aalborg Zoo for the past 40 years, said that the social media post made her want to donate her horse. “She could make a difference by being used as food,” Ms. Flyvholm said. “She is a very loved horse.”
Ms. Flyvholm said her horse needed to be put down because the cartilage in its hooves was turning into bone. But the horse, which weighed over 2,000 pounds, was too big for the zoo, she said.
Instead, Ms. Flyvholm decided to donate her horse to a different organization that will use the animal for biofuel or fertilizer production.
It’s not the first time that Denmark’s zoos have come under fire for their unvarnished approach to death. In 2014, the Copenhagen Zoo euthanized a healthy young giraffe named Marius because his genes were already well-represented among the captive giraffes. The zoo invited members of the public to watch the giraffe’s autopsy as an educational opportunity and then fed Marius’s remains to some of its big cats, including its lions.
Weeks later, the zoo euthanized four of those lions: two cubs and their parents. The zoo said the lions were killed to prevent the male lion from breeding with his daughters and to prevent a newly arrived young male lion from attacking the cubs.
The deaths prompted an outcry from animal rights activists but also reflected a trans-Atlantic philosophical divide toward zoo management. American zoos often lean heavily on contraception to prevent zoo populations from booming, whereas European zoos often allow their animals to breed — arguing that it is good for the animals to be able to engage in these natural behaviors — and later euthanize “surplus” animals.