Tiergarten Nürnberg Nuremberg zoo ...to cull twenty five Guinea Baboons

Strathmorezoo

Well-Known Member
Because of over breeding the zoo has announced the culling of guinea baboons. Is this because they are a victim of their own success?How many other zoos have been in this situation, are in this situation, or will be in this situation in the future?
 
Agreed, if there are no other zoos to take them then, in my opinion, zoos should avoid breeding animals simply to destroy them.

Continental Europe seems to think differently. "Zoothanasia" is acceptable practice according to the EAZA. I believe that even the BIAZA allows the use of it, although strongly encourages that other options be utilized in order to minimize it.

https://assets.publishing.service.g...data/file/69596/standards-of-zoo-practice.pdf (Page 34)
 
I think that there is a bigger issue, where do surplus animals go?

Zoos only have so much space. Sanctuaries are more often that not, are run by animal rights activists who would prefer that the zoo as an institution becomes a thing of the past. Private facilities and individuals are a mixed bag at best.

A short, but content life, followed by a quick, hopefully painless death is not the worst thing that can happen to a surplus animal.

I mean, where do you think all of those exotic hunting ranches in Texas sourced their foundation stock from? Lol.
 
Public relations have nothing to do with it - if there is a better alternative, killing an animal should always be avoided. Surely that is common sense.

By why is killing a zoo animal viewed as an inherently bad thing? Millions of farm animals are slaughtered each year for human consumption! Why is killing a giraffe, or a baboon, or even a set of lion cubs any "different"?
 
Continental Europe seems to think differently. "Zoothanasia" is acceptable practice according to the EAZA. I believe that even the BIAZA allows the use of it, although strongly encourages that other options be utilized in order to minimize it.

https://assets.publishing.service.g...data/file/69596/standards-of-zoo-practice.pdf (Page 34)

Indeed, however, as mentioned, I don't agree with that guidance or with it as a policy.

I don't believe all animals are simply commodities and I don't like the mass slaughter of animals for human consumption or entertainment. Cruelty doesn't justify wider cruelty. We can agree to differ on it as I've never heard a coherent argument advocating or justifying cruelty that I am interested in engaging with.
 
We can agree to differ on it as I've never heard a coherent argument advocating or justifying cruelty that I am interested in engaging with.

Are you... accusing me of supporting animal cruelty just because I don't have a problem with animals being killed instead of being allowed to live out the full extent of their natural lifespans?
 
By why is killing a zoo animal viewed as an inherently bad thing? Millions of farm animals are slaughtered each year for human consumption! Why is killing a giraffe, or a baboon, or even a set of lion cubs any "different"?
With regard to sanctuaries, in the UK they are not governed in the same way as zoos are,why not, I don't know, so I am always wary of such places. The question then is ,where do animals go when the sanctuaries are full?To cull surplus animals just because zoos want lots of baby animals, I think is morally wrong
 
Are you... accusing me of supporting animal cruelty just because I don't have a problem with animals being killed instead of being allowed to live out the full extent of their natural lifespans?

I think the act of deliberately creating and culling surplus animals in zoos when there are alternatives is wrong and in my view it is cruel. If you think otherwise that's your opinion; you are as entitled to it as I am to mine. I am not 'accusing' you of anything. I simply don't agree with you. I also don't agree with exotic sport ranches where animals are killed for fun nor with 'surplus' animals ending up in them either. We kill too many things needlessly as humans...if we were more thoughtful many animals would not be endangered in the first place.
 
Nuremberg zoo also said that dead baboons could be fed to predator carnivores, can anyone see a big problem with this idea?

Depends how they kill them. If they have to avoid drugs which might be used in euthanasia in order to feed them to predators and the act of killing them induces any further suffering as a result then I'd see an issue with that.

Otherwise, while I think the whole thing sucks and it shouldn't be allowed to happen in the first place, feeding them to a carnivore is better than throwing them into the waste.
 
With regard to sanctuaries, in the UK they are not governed in the same way as zoos are,why not, I don't know, so I am always wary of such places.

It's exactly the same over here in the United States. There are simply no government mandates or regulations surrounding animal sanctuaries. Literally, any layperson can start a "sanctuary"! They don't need to prove that they have the money, the training, the land, or even the resources to properly care for exotic animals, they can just begin accepting animals!

There are private organizations that proclaim to provide guidelines for animal sanctuaries... but more often that not, they're run by the very same people running the animal sanctuaries! Industries that attempt to police themselves tend to do a piss-poor job of it IMHO.

The question then is ,where do animals go when the sanctuaries are full?

I do believe that we just established why sending any zoo animal to a self-proclaimed animal "sanctuary" is terrible idea. Ergo, for the surplus animals' sake, humanely killing them in their home environment at the zoo, instead of sending them on to parts unknown to face who knows what kind of treatment, is the more moral thing to do.

To cull surplus animals just because zoos want lots of baby animals, I think is morally wrong

Why do you think that any zoo would choose to cull an animal just because they "want lots of baby animals"? Where has the zoo that's the subject of this thread said that's their justification for culling twenty Guinea Baboons?

As I have previously mentioned, EAZA zoos seem to view that allowing their animals to have and raise their own offspring every year is more ethical than keeping the sexes permanently separated or on contraceptives for nearly their whole lives. Why exactly do you think that's wrong? Sexual segregation can cause behavioral problems, while long-term use of contraceptives has been known to cause sterility.

There's no right or wrong answer here, just different cultures having differing views on animals.
 
Back
Top