After the Nuremberg Zoo killed twelve healthy Guinea baboons yesterday for reasons of space, the German Animal Welfare Federation and its Bavarian regional association are shocked and criticize those responsible in the strongest possible terms. The German Animal Welfare Federation will press charges for violation of the Animal Welfare Act.
"Animal welfare is being trampled underfoot in Nuremberg, as we saw dramatically yesterday. Species protection is being used as an argument to shirk responsibility for the animals, even though the Guinea baboons are not intended for reintroduction into the wild," says Ilona Wojahn, Chairwoman of the Bavarian branch of the German Animal Welfare Federation. Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation, adds: "Zoos are not Noah's Ark, but just a badly inflated rubber dinghy. With the fatal shots in Nuremberg, the inflatable boat has now sunk. We are horrified and saddened."
VIOLATION OF THE ANIMAL PROTECTION LAW
The German Animal Welfare Federation considers the killing to be a violation of the Animal Protection Act, which requires a “reasonable” reason for the killing of animals, and will therefore press criminal charges. A “reasonable cause” is usually given when an animal is seriously ill or intended for consumption from the outset. Although the zoo fed some of the baboons to predators after killing them, animal rights activists do not consider this to be a “reasonable cause” for killing them: “The Guinea baboons, a potentially endangered species, were bred for display in the zoo and for species conservation, not as food animals,” explains Paulina Kuhn, wildlife officer at the German Animal Welfare Federation.
The director of Nuremberg Zoo, Dr. Dag Encke, had publicly made it clear that they wanted to make the killing of zoo animals socially acceptable. The baboons were the first healthy primates to be killed in a German zoo. Encke is also President of the Association of Zoological Gardens (VdZ). This association has also spoken out in favor of the killing, as have other zoo directors. "The real breach of taboo is that zoos, as animal keepers, simply want to avoid responsibility by killing healthy animals in a situation they have created themselves. This is a misguided approach. We are convinced that the courts will also see it that way," says Schröder.
