The Aalborg Zoo in Denmark created quite a stir online recently by asking people to donate their animals as food, and one mom has stepped up to offer an entire pony.
The original post by the zoo asked people to donate their unwanted pets. They said they would humanely euthanize them and then feed them to the various zoo animals. According to their literature, it is important to feed the animals creatures that would be normally in their diet.
A lot of people popped up online, moaning about the idea. But, it appeared there were still a few out there who had animals that were at the end of life. According to the zoo, plenty came forward. As well as the pony, 22 horses, 53 chickens, 137 rabbits, and 18 guinea pigs were also donated.
“In zoos, we have a responsibility to imitate the natural food chain of the animals – in terms of both animal welfare and professional integrity. If you have a healthy animal that has to leave here for various reasons, feel free to donate it to us.”
So, when one mom noted her daughter’s pony was about to die, she donated it to the zoo for feed.
Pony Pay Day
The horse in question was already facing the knackers. It was ill, and according to the mom, the pony was about to be put down anyway. So she thought it would be better to be used at the zoo.
“It might sound very dramatic and bizarre that you would feed your pet to animals in the zoo,” The mom said to The Sunday Times. “But they are going to be put down anyway. It is not like they are alive when they are given to the predators.”
It’s much better that the animal didn’t go to waste.
It’s often very expensive to have a horse killed and removed. But, in this case, she was actually paid for the pony by the zoo. Every small pet donated nets the previous owner $15.60. However, for a horse, it’s 78c per kilo.
Depending on the size of the horse, that could be well worth it.