Danish zoo wants your unwanted pets for predator meals
Animals are reportedly humanely euthanised and offered as naturalistic food for lions, tigers and lynxes
A zoo in Denmark is turning heads—and stomachs—with its latest appeal: donate your healthy, unwanted pets to feed the lions, tigers, and lynxes.
Aalborg Zoo has launched an eyebrow-raising campaign calling on the public to hand over live chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs—and even horses—to be used as food for its carnivores. The animals are reportedly “gently euthanised” by trained staff before becoming dinner.
Posting on Instagram, the zoo defended the move as part of a mission to mimic the wild.
“We have a responsibility to imitate the natural food chain of the animals. Small livestock make up an important part of the diet of our predators.”
Among the meat-eaters at the zoo are lions, tigers, and the Eurasian lynx—a species for whom, the zoo says, freshly euthanised animals “reminisce what it would naturally hunt in the wild.”
According to Aalborg Zoo’s website, donations of small animals are welcome on weekdays, with no more than four at a time allowed without an appointment. Horses, however, come with stricter conditions.
BBC News reported that to be eligible, horses must have a valid passport and must not have received any medical treatment for illness within the past 30 days. If approved, horse owners may even qualify for a tax deduction.
Under a photo of a tiger chowing down on a chunk of raw meat, the website outlines the benefits of the practice for both the zoo and the environment.
Zoo Deputy Director Pia Nielsen said the initiative has been in place for years.
“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.”
Whether you see it as practical recycling or a chilling twist in pet ownership, one thing’s for sure—it’s feeding time at Aalborg Zoo.
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