Aalborg Zoo in Denmark has made a request to any and all interested, that, for numerous reasons, might need to get rid of unwanted pets. Specifically, they've made a request for these unwanted pets to act as feed for its predators.
This may sound bizarre, but thousands of pets in Denmark alone, if not more, are euthanised each year, but, as Aalborg Zoo puts it in a post on Instagram (found below), if they are donated they can help the zoo with its "responsibility to imitate the natural food chain of the animals".
The zoo will accept chickens, rabbits, and guinea pigs, which they say will be "gently euthanised" by trained staff before being fed to a variety of predators, as smaller livestock "make up an important part of the diet of our predators".
Predators that will benefit from this is, among others, the Eurasian lynx, lions, and tigers. They will, for the larger predators, even accept a horse, but there are whole host of rules associated with donating a horse, such as it having a horse passport and being illness-free.
"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. The livestock we receive as donations are chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, and horses," says Pia Nielsen, the zoo's Deputy Director in a statement.
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Thanks, BBC.