3 days ago
The beastly dilemma facing Europe's zoos — to cull or not to cull
T ossing the torsos of half a dozen dismembered Guinea baboons into the big cat enclosure is perhaps an unorthodox way to start an ethical debate.
The killing of 12 primates last month, which were judged to be surplus to requirements at Nuremberg Zoo in southern Germany, prompted a wave of online anguish and protests in the street.
The episode, however, was far from unique. Two healthy lion cubs that had been rejected by their mother were put down in Cologne only days earlier and, this week, three baby tigers in Leipzig suffered the same fate.
The German zoo directors are well aware of how all this slaughter of charismatic megafauna looks to the general public.
