Several animal welfare organizations have strongly criticized the killing of supposedly surplus zoo animals. A few days ago, Leipzig Zoo reported the killing of four moor antelopes - a highly endangered species - due to a lack of space. The fact that zoos are increasingly killing animals that have become economically inconvenient for them and presenting this to the public as a species conservation and educational measure shows that zoos are primarily commercially run leisure facilities.
“Zoos always advertise the fact that keeping endangered species in their facilities makes an important contribution to species conservation. However, if you take a closer look, you realize that only very few animals in zoos have any chance of being released into the wild,” says Laura Zodrow, specialist at Pro Wildlife e.V.. This is also confirmed by an answer from the German government to a minor interpellation, according to which only 149 animals of protected species were exported abroad from German zoos for reintroduction projects in 15 years (from 2005 to 2020). Given that around 170,000 animals are kept in the zoos organized in the Association of Zoological Gardens (VdZ) alone, this is a negligible number. In any case, very few animal species that are or were extinct in the wild have survived through breeding efforts.
In general, zoos often reach their limits with their population management. “The term 'surplus to requirements' has become standard vocabulary in zoo management, but it already implies an ethically and animal welfare-wise questionable classification of animals as worthy or worthless. Animals are sentient beings and not just genetic reserves,” says Dr. Yvonne Würz, PETA Deutschland e.V. specialist.
VIOLATION OF LEGAL AND ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
Time and again, zoos try to justify the killing of healthy animals as necessary. In a recently published article in the scientific journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” (PNAS), zoo managers argue that without breeding, animals are deprived of essential behavioral cycles such as reproduction, rearing young and social interaction with young animals. “However, the authors fail to mention that animals in zoos are naturally restricted in all areas of their lives and, for example, cannot choose their own social partners or engage in important behavioral circuits such as exploratory behavior, social and territorial behavior, foraging or resting and comfort behavior. The entire life of animals in zoos is determined by humans. The argument is therefore completely unfounded,” says Claudia Lotz, Chairwoman of the German Animal Welfare Association.
Ethical and animal welfare concerns are also obviously of secondary importance to the authors: In their opinion, old animals that require more care and resources should be killed to make room for younger and healthier animals. For animal welfare organizations that sacrificially care for every animal in their care, this cannot be the right approach. “If animal shelters or vets in Germany were to systematically euthanize old animals or animals in need of intensive care for economic reasons, there would probably be a huge outcry. It is unacceptable for zoos to shirk their responsibility for their animals, which they have also bred themselves. Last but not least, it is unlawful to kill animals for no reasonable reason,” criticizes Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation.
The animal welfare organizations are calling on the zoo community to stop killing “unwanted” zoo animals. Torsten Schmidt, scientific advisor at the Bund gegen Missbrauch der Tiere e.V., comments: “Zoos must face up to their responsibility and create species-appropriate living conditions for all the animals entrusted to them. This includes, in particular, reducing the number of species kept, stopping breeding and expanding the enclosure or even building a new enclosure in order to be able to continue keeping animals that cannot be rehomed”.
This press release was issued by the following associations
Bundesverband Tierschutz e.V.
Bund gegen Missbrauch der Tiere e.V.
German Legal Society for Animal Protection Law e.V.
German Animal Welfare Association
Pro Wildlife e.V.
PETA Germany e.V.
