Swiss zoo puts own animals on menu

Swiss zoo causes controversy after serving own animals at restaurant

A zoo in Switzerland has come under fire from animal welfare supporters after it was revealed that they have been serving captive animals at their own restaurant.
The Langen Wildlife Park near Zurich, has been killing and cooking a ‘surplus’ of captive deer and boar which were born and raised in the park. Spokesperson Martin Kilchenmann, who confirmed the rumours of the zoo eatery, stated that the reason behind the seemingly unorthodox cuisine is due to the lack of space and large number of piglets and calves being born at the zoo.

The zoo has defended their decision to serve up boar burgers and bambi buffets by claiming that this approach teaches visitors about the ‘natural cycle’. Serving meat on a plate with a side salad may not precisely be how the food chain works in the wild, but the basic predator and prey example is there. Despite their justification though, Ruth Widmer, president of the local animal protection association, is calling for efforts to limit over breeding in the zoo following the announcement that 49 deer and 10 boar were shot in the park in 2012.
This isn’t the first time zoos have caused uproar by dealing with over-population in an unconventional manner. Earlier this year, the Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark killed a young giraffe and fed it to the lions, which is arguably more of a natural occurrence than being rare, medium, or well done on a zoo menu.