A zoo in the southern German city of Nuremberg eliminated 12 healthy Guinea baboons due to overcrowding of fences, and they were fed to predators.
Seven animal rights activists entered the Tiergarten Nürnberg Zoo on Tuesday to protest the decision. A woman glued her hands to the ground near the entrance.
The zoo says overcrowding has led to an increase in conflict between baboons and there is no other option to reinstall them.
Christoph Maisack, head of the German Animal Protection Law Society, said allowing these animals to reproduce too freely “can’t constitute such a reason.”
Nuremberg’s zoo announced plans to kill some Guinea baboons last year, after a population of more than 40, up from the 25 that the complex completed in 2009 could accommodate.
The zoos in other countries where baboons were previously sent to have also achieved their capacity, and contraceptive measures failed to slow population growth.
On Tuesday morning, the zoo announced its closure for “operational reasons” triggering protesters to climb on the fence of the zoo near the entrance and they were arrested.
Later, the zoo confirmed that it had killed the baboons – one of them was pregnant women or part of scientific research. The animals were photographed for research purposes and the carcasses were then fed to predators in the zoo.
The decision was proposed after “years of consideration” and that animal phase-out could be “a legal last measure to maintain the population,” said the zoo director Dag Encke.
Encke added that the action meets the standards set by the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA).
Animal rights groups have filed criminal lawsuits against the “perfectly healthy” zoo.
A spokesman for Pro Wildlife said the decision was “avoidable and illegal”, adding: “Healthy animals must be killed because the zoo has maintained irresponsible and unsustainable reproduction policies for decades.”
European zoos have previously sparked controversy over eliminating animals.
In 2014, a zoo Copenhagen eliminates giraffes – Named Marius – because his genes are too close to other giraffes in the zoo breeding program.
Giraffe’s postmortem – During this period, the body is peeled, cut off and fed to the lion – Live broadcast online.
