A zoo in Denmark wants you to give its lazy carnivores free handouts in the form of your small, unwanted pets. In unrelated news, someone’s timeline for moving into that dream condo just got moved up.
“If you have a healthy animal that needs to be given away for various reasons, feel free to donate it to us,” the Aalborg Zoo wrote in Facebook and Instagram posts, as quoted by the Associated Press.
Rest assured, the donated pets will be “gently euthanized” by trained staff before becoming some washed up apex predator’s cheat meal.
“That way, nothing goes to waste,” the zoo said, “and we ensure natural behavior, nutrition and well-being of our predators.”
Naturally, this sparked some outrage on social media.
“What a bunch of sociopaths, a zoo should care about all animals,” wrote one netizen.
“F*ck the Aalborg Zoo,” seethed another.
In its posts, the zoo argues that it’s simply imitating the natural processes of the food chain, minus its occasionally cruel vicissitudes. And it specified that it’s asking for animals like chickens, rabbits, and guinea pigs. (It didn’t mention cats and dogs, if it makes a difference.)
Some experts are defending the zoo’s practice.
“If you agree to the general principle that you have carnivorous animals in a zoo, you somehow succumb to the necessity that you have to feed them animal material,” Marcus Clauss, co-director of the Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife at the University of Zurich, told the Washington Post. “If you do this in a way that is not primarily directed at economics, but at animal welfare, you will strive to get animals that had high welfare, ideally.”
Or maybe you don’t accept that premise. Enter PETA.
“It’s not ‘natural behavior’ for predators from Asia, who roam and hunt for their meals, to be captive in Denmark,” vice president of the animal rights group said in a statement, per WaPo. “If Aalborg Zoo truly cares about animal welfare, it should focus on protecting these species in their natural habitats, instead of keeping them in captivity.”
If you’re not onboard with abolishing zoos, however, then Clauss makes a fair point. Carnivores need their meat, and it has to come from somewhere. Is it any more wrong that the meat is from animals that we, humans, decided we like, instead of farm animals, which we know are raised in cruel conditions?
Stamos Tahas, a vet at the Copenhagen Zoo, said that the practice is considered “very normal” in Denmark, and felt that the backlash comes from people “over-romanticizing nature and the world,” he told WaPo, and “Disney-fying things a little bit.” (In 2014, the Copenhagen Zoo became a cause célèbre after euthanizing a healthy giraffe, purportedly to avoid inbreeding, before dissecting it in front of zoo-goers and feeding its carcass to lions — which is certainly one way of reminding the public that nature isn’t all sunshine and roses.)
Pet owners can’t be blamed for being a little horrified at the idea of their beloved critters being reintroduced back into the food chain. But as Tahas is getting at, nature can often be pretty grisly. And in any case, the zoo insists the animals will be put down “gently” — not hunted and thrown to the literal wolves.
Plus, for many animals in pain, euthanizing them can be a more humane alternative. The problem is that not everyone can afford such a costly procedure. And as Clauss artfully put it to WaPo, “people who want to get rid of their animals will find a way of doing that.” It’s not a pleasant thing to think about — and maybe the zoo is a little guilty of trying to drum up controversy — but what it’s offering probably beats taking Old Yeller out behind the shed, we suppose.
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