Shall we follow the Danes?

I find this awful.

The zoo is particularly keen to accept live horses for slaughter, you can even get a tax deduction for donating.

As a side comment;

When I acquired an allotment, the previous tenant requested that we respect the grave of a pet buried on it. I agreed , suggested they mark the spot and tactfully enquired what kind of pet it was. (Because a German Shepherd occupies more ground than a kitten) The answer came back "It's a hamster" and a tiny cross appeared in one of the beds, marking the spot to let it rest in peace.

I can only assume the mourners had been so stricken by grief that it affected their memory. Because months later, carefully avoiding the cross I accidentally exhumed a corpse and its paper bag shroud disintegrated. Not a hamster; it was a large pet rat.

The Faroe Islands still in 2025 are still practising the appalling annual slaughter of many Pilot Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises including pregnant females and young calves It is apparently tradition!! The meat is virtually inedible owing to toxics and carcinogens in the ocean, ingested by these creatures. It is an absolutely vile practise, and although a self governing archipelago, Faroe is part of the kingdom of Denmark! Should tell you everything!!

I love animals, but putting sentimentality for our pets aside, predators have to eat meat to survive, and whether they eat unwanted pets or animals bred specifically for them to eat, it still means animals die. It’s the circle of life.

In Europe they don’t have the same sentimentality towards horses, horse meat is regularly on the menu as is veal.

David49

In Europe they don’t have the same sentimentality towards horses, horse meat is regularly on the menu as is veal.

But they're asking for pets.

Mollygo

If you think about what vegans would like, it seems to be a world without animals.
No cows, no sheep, no pigs, no deer, no game birds, no hens, no ducks even feral pigeons would be a bit dodgy. If innocently chasing them is bad, how much worse would be shooting them to eat.
No lions and tigers or other carnivorous animals, no rats, no cats, no owls, no birds of prey, no vultures.
And no humans who don’t fit in with their doctrine.

It's madness isn't it.

Sadly the world is not a "nice" place. I wonder what would have happened to these obviously unwanted pets otherwise?

Allira

David49

In Europe they don’t have the same sentimentality towards horses, horse meat is regularly on the menu as is veal.

But they're asking for pets.

There are plenty of horses kept as pets, whatever the size of the pet Zoos have to be careful, many pets will have been treated with drugs for an illness or disease before they are euthanized. For these animals burial or cremation is the only disposal they are not wanted for pet food or zoos

We are wrecking the world and all the animal habitats. God help all living creatures in the future. I fear human morals and empathy has gone down the pan. Daily I wonder at our sanity or lack thereof.

It would be against the animal welfare act 2006 in the UK to do this. Any mice or rats that are fed have to be euthanised and frozen first. UK do however allow live feeding to some exotic non native species but this is usually invertebrates

There is so much worse that can happen to a pet animal than being euthanised by a vet and fed to another animal. I get very annoyed seeing pets being kept alive because their owner can't deal with having them pts. IMHO the best, last thing an owner can do is to give their much loved pets a decent, timely death. It's what I would wish for myself.

I would like to know more about just how the donated animals will be "gently euthanised". Presumably, the zoo management will not want their carnivores eating meat that's loaded with barbiturates.

This is absolutely horrifying to donate pets to zoos for food purposes.

This world is horrendous ! If it is not starving children and arresting migrants and torturing them in Cecot, it is a disgrace of humanity to want to feed wildlife with pets !!!!!!!!!!!!

All equines have passports and once they have received any drugs that compromise their use as a meat product they are signed out of the food chain. Owners can also choose to do this without drugs being involved.

Leaving aside the question of the morality or not of zoos, I can't see what the problem is about dead pets providing food for other animals.
Our cats and dogs are given food made from the carcases of dead horses, many of which have been pets or at least respected members of a team.

foxie48

There is so much worse that can happen to a pet animal than being euthanised by a vet and fed to another animal. I get very annoyed seeing pets being kept alive because their owner can't deal with having them pts. IMHO the best, last thing an owner can do is to give their much loved pets a decent, timely death. It's what I would wish for myself.

Yes I tend to agree tho I hope you don’t wish for yourself to be eaten by tigers?😄
When I first read about this scheme at first I felt 😲 but on thinking about it, if the pets are going to be euthanised anyway?
The circle of life.
It would be very difficult to take a live pet to the zoo and hand it over tho wouldn’t it?

Can you imagine taking a trusting dog or cat there?

Romola

Leaving aside the question of the morality or not of zoos, I can't see what the problem is about dead pets providing food for other animals.
Our cats and dogs are given food made from the carcases of dead horses, many of which have been pets or at least respected members of a team.

They don't want dead pets.

They want live pets which they say they will euthanise then feed to the predators to enable them to have a more natural experience of dealing with their food.
How do we know they won't feed Tiddles or Rover live to the predators?

Anyway, predators in a zoo are hardly have a natural experience whatever they do, are they?

I dislike zoos generally unless they have breeding programmes for endangered species or huge areas where the animals can live a reasonably normal life.

Allira

Anyway, predators in a zoo are hardly have a natural experience whatever they do, are they?

I dislike zoos generally unless they have breeding programmes for endangered species or huge areas where the animals can live a reasonably normal life.

It doesn’t help their hunting instincts if only dead animals are on offer.
How do we know that lumps of meat aren’t preferable to big cats anyway?
Imagine if we had to eat the skin with a banana or a Snickers through a wrapper?
Hmmm, am having second thoughts on the pet giving to zoos now.

The European Lynx,for example, is not endangered so why is it in the zoo for people to gawp at? It should be free then it could live a normal live and catch its prey.

I know it’s a different topic, but recently I have been reading about India and the huge numbers of big cats kept as either pets or allowed to roam around their gardens by the owners.
There’s footage of a lion popping over a wall in the middle of a town and it immediately attacks a woman and her children.
There are also lots kept in the US and who knows how many other countries allow this.Time it was all stopped both for the animals sakes and humans.

Oreo, it's allowed in this country too but there are guidelines regarding fencing and enclosire type (although still too small imo) and there are safety systems in place to electrocute/control escape from enclosure. Some people in the UK have massive collections of exotic mammals

I guess if some are more or less private zoos that’s at least better than the iffy conditions that some countries turn a blind eye to.

Actually, according to Google some British zoos use live animals as fodder too.