Brother, Can You Spare a Guinea Pig?

Denmark zoo askes people to donate unwanted pets to feed predators and imitate 'natural food chain' 

"A zoo in northern Denmark is asking pet owners to donate their unwanted guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens, and even small horses - not to put them on display but to geed them to the zoo's predators."

Denmark strikes again!  The same tiny Scandinavian nation that rocked the zoo world with controversy following the euthanasia of a surplus male giraffe is now making waves after international media caught wind of this story.  Granted, it's been sensationalized six-ways-to-Sunday, and some people are walking away with the idea that the zoo wants them to bring their cats and dogs, which will then be unceremoniously lobbed into the lion's den.  It kind of harkens back to the memories of the Tower of London menagerie centuries ago, when visitors who brought a small pet to feed the carnivores would have their admission fee waived.

Feeding whole prey is a common practice at many zoos, and Aalborg (the zoo in question) has been doing it for years, as have many others.  It's good enrichment and promotes more natural feeding behavior and better health than a mix of ground meat served in a metal bowl.  In this case, instead of buying the animals themselves, they are asking if any members of the public have animals that would be put down anyway - say, a backyard breeder who is getting out of chickens, for example - and give them to the zoo to euthanize and feed out instead.  I can't fault the logic.

But I don't know... sometimes (I felt this after the giraffe, and I feel this now) it seems like the Danish zoos kind of enjoy stirring the pot.  They know that headlines like this get a lot of attention and stir a lot of drama and controversy; I can't imagine that they didn't know how this would play in the media.  Which hey, if they want to play "Edgelord of the Zoo," more power to them - it's just that the rest of us get roped into this, and we have folks worried that we're going to snatch their chihuahua-terrier mixes out of their arms to feed them to the big cats and wolves.