A zoo director in northern Germany has admitted that some animals might soon have to be fed to others, if the zoo is to survive.
“We’ve listed the animals we’ll have to slaughter first,” Neumünster Zoo’s Verena Kaspari told Die Welt.
Ms Kaspari at Neumünster Zoo said killing some animals so that others could live would be a last resort, and “unpleasant”, but even that would not solve the financial problem. The seals and penguins needed big quantities of fresh fish daily, she pointed out.
“If it comes to it, I’ll have to euthanise animals, rather than let them starve. At the worst, we would have to feed some of the animals to others, ” she said.
Besides direct appeals for public donations, Germany’s zoos are jointly requesting government aid worth €100m, DPA reports. Germany’s national zoo association (VdZ) argues that zoos, unlike many other businesses, cannot go into hibernation and run down costs. Animals still have to be fed daily and looked after, while a tropical enclosure has to be heated above 20C.