Last Thursday, zoos in Denmark started to seek donations from locals in the area, asking for pets of the public, to feed the predators in the zoo. The zoos stated that having pets be killed and fed to the predators will be able to help mimic the natural food chain. People should not donate their pets to Danish zoos.

Denmark wishes to mimic the natural food chain of the wild by feeding some of their predators — such as big cats like lions — small pets donated by the public. The zoos wish to “peacefully put to rest” the pets they get, then feed the big cats fresh meat.

Danish zoos are facing major backlash and have been even before this event. In 2014, the Copenhagen zoo euthanized a young giraffe for just one simple reason: the fact that his genes had already been well-represented among the young giraffes. Due to this fact, they killed the young giraffe and later fed it to the big cats. This same zoo also killed four lions, just a couple of weeks later, because they felt that the male lion might mate with its own daughter, and they also feared that the new male lion would attack the cubs. These deaths, of perfectly healthy animals, were unnecessary and clearly show the unimportance of the animals to the owners. According to The New York Times, it is said that European zoos would much rather let animals breed with one another and later euthanize any of the “surplus” animals.

Giving predators the chance to experience lunchtime as they would in the wild is greatly important. This helps them keep their natural instincts, like the hunter instincts of predators, but ultimately, this idea isn’t what’s being used in the Danish zoo, Aalborg Zoo. Aalborg Zoo is accepting pet donations of any kind, but because of this, the animals that end up fed to the predators aren’t even what they are supposed to eat. There is also a low chance that the pets that are fed to the predators aren’t even safe. As some pets could have been neglected and sick before getting donated, this could then lead to said pet becoming sick with some kind of disease. This then could be passed again, from the carnivorous predators eating, said the sick pet.