Sick of your pets? Why not simply donate them to your local zoo and watch it be mauled to death by a lion? It’s a great day out that the whole family can enjoy.
It may sound like a joke, but a zoo in Denmark is suggesting people do just that. A recent post by Aalborg zoo has asked people to donate their unwanted pets to be eaten. “Did you know that you can donate smaller pets to Aalborg Zoo?” the unbelievable post starts.
According to them, it’s important for the animals in the zoo to experience food akin to what they would in the wild, and your unwanted pets are ideal. For anyone who has ever had a breeding pair of rabbits or hamsters, this could be a cheap way to have some extra fun at the zoo.
“Chickens, rabbits, and guinea pigs form an important part of the diet of our predators – especially the European lynx, which needs whole prey that resembles what it would naturally hunt in the wild,” they state. “In zoos, we have a responsibility to mimic the animals’ natural food chain – for the sake of both animal welfare and professional integrity.”
Not Much of A Show
Sadly, the pets are euthanized before being fed to the zoo animals. Rather than being released into the cage live and giving the audience a show, they are killed and used as feed. I would have thought that the hunting process was also important, but I don’t really know anything.
“If you have an animal that needs to be euthanized for various reasons, you are welcome to donate it to us. The animals are gently euthanized by trained staff and then used as food.” It appears they also take horses.
However, one person in the comments has also raised a good question. “Can I also donate my healthy but annoying neighbourhood children? Is there an age limit?” one person asks. Sadly, though, it seems it’s only unwanted pets that can be donated to the zoo.
The comments were quickly closed. People were furious that the zoo could even think about asking such a question. Hamsters and rabbits are sacred. Eating chickens by the million is totally cool, though.