‘Bizarre and wrong’: Danish zoo sparks debate with plea for pets to use as food

Aalborg zoo points to importance of mimicking natural feeding, but critics say its campaign devalues pets

A

fter a Danish zoo posted a reminder of its long-running programme allowing people to donate their healthy, small pets to be “gently euthanised” and fed to predators, reaction poured in from across the globe.

But beyond the battleground playing out on social media – where some protested against the idea of using pets as prey and others praised the zoo’s efforts to drum up a practical food supply – some were swift to point out that the zoo was simply laying bare the reality of keeping carnivores in captivity.

“If you accept the fact that you have carnivores in human care, either as a pet or as a zoo, you will agree to the fact that you feed them animal matter. Basically there is no other choice,” said Marcus Clauss, the co-director of the Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife at the University of Zurich, pointing to vegan dog food as one of the few exceptions to this. “And then the logical next step is the question, where do you source that animal product from?”