Zoo calls for unwanted pets to feed its animals

Predators at a zoo in Denmark could soon be feasting on new donations from the public — their pets.

Aalborg Zoo, which sits on the outskirts of the city of the same name in the Scandinavian country’s northwest, put out a call Thursday for unwanted animals on its social media channels.

Donated pets will be “gently euthanized” by trained staff and then used as “fodder” to take care of the well-being of predators, it said, alongside a photo showing a lynx baring its teeth.

Chicken, rabbits and guinea pigs would be welcome as food for its meat-eaters, the post said.

The post echoed a similar appeal that appeared on the zoo’s website earlier this year, which also called for horses to be donated so long as they were no taller than 4 feet 10 inches, healthy and not treated for illness in the past 30 days.

Horse owners can obtain a tax deduction for the value of the animal, it said.

Zoos have a “responsibility to imitate the natural food chain” for carnivores that need whole prey for a hunting experience similar to that in the wild, the post said.

“If you have a healthy animal that has to leave here for various reasons, feel free to donate it to us,” it added. “We ensure natural behavior, nutrition and well-being of our predators.”

The post quickly sparked online debate drawing criticism from some quarters.

“The idea that a zoo, of all places, is encouraging people to drop off their animals to be killed and fed to lions and tigers is, to me, incredibly disturbing,” one user wrote on Facebook.

Multiple phone calls to the zoo from NBC News went unanswered, but in an update to its original post Tuesday, the zoo said it had closed the comments section.

“We understand that the post arouses emotions and interest, but hateful and malicious rhetoric is not necessary — and we encourage everyone to maintain a respectful tone,” the zoo wrote.

It is not unheard of for animals to be fed to predators after they have died in a zoo or culled from healthy animal populations.

In 2014, Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark’s capital courted controversy when it killed an 18-month-old giraffe called Marius with a bolt gun and fed him to the lions, saying the animal was “unwanted.”

An online petition with thousands of signatures failed to save him and the zoo said at the time that Marius had been euthanized to avoid inbreeding.