Zoos should consider culling surplus animals to regulate populations, say researchers

Researchers from the University of Zurich say zoos must rethink population management and allow animals to reproduce naturally - zoos should then cull surplus animals. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox Up to now, contraception has been the method of choice for zoos to control reproduction, said the University of Zurich (UZH) in a press statement on Wednesday. But in an article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) the scientists said zoos could preserve their breeding populations, raise awareness of conservation challenges and improve animal welfare and their carbon footprint by "allowing animals to reproduce naturally and culling surplus animals". Zoo animals getting older The researchers argue that widespread contraceptive practices are changing the age profile of animal populations. As a result, zoo populations are getting older and older. This jeopardises one of the basic principles of zoos: the preservation of ...