"Killing is part of protecting species": Nuremberg zoo hunts foxes - animal rights activists angry

Foxes are not welcome at Nuremberg Zoo, they are hunted and then killed.

Is there a way to get the unwanted inhabitants into a forest alive?

Nuremberg - Over 150 native bird species and more than 50 mammals native to Germany live in the Nuremberg Zoo *.

But there are also domestic animals that are not welcome in the landscape zoo in Nuremberg: foxes.

As reported by

on October 19, the employees of the zoo have been using live traps to fight the canine-like predators for years.

What moves many minds - especially those of animal rights activists - is the fact that the animals are shot after they have been trapped.

Fox hunt in Nuremberg zoo because of cracked ducks and muntjacs

The problem and the reason for the live traps are the animals in the zoo that fall victim to the foxes: The red-furry animals not only killed ducks, but also goitered gazelles and muntjacs (relatively small deer that originally came from Asia) .

The ducks attitude of the ponds had the Tiergarten line, according to

because of foxes already abandoned.

In addition, despite trackers and years of observation, the Nuremberg Zoo has so far not been able to track down the underground burrows of the animals.

Foxes are currently not hunted in the Nuremberg Zoo

The total of six live traps set up in the zoo would be checked regularly. Mostly young animals are caught there - the older foxes are now more suspicious and more cautious. The zoo is currently not hunting any foxes. With an estimated only two or three pairs of foxes, the situation is currently relaxed and a targeted hunt is not necessary.

But this could change quickly as soon as the offspring arrived.

For example in 2014, when 18 young animals groped into the live traps in the zoo within two weeks and were then shot.

"If the foxes can be seen during the day, we have to act," said the zoo director Dag Encke now opposite

Not only animal rights activists could ask themselves at this point why the wild dogs are killed and why they are not released into the wild after being captured in one of the live traps?

Zoo director in Nuremberg: "Killing is part of protecting species"

When asked by

the captured animals in the nearby Nuremberg Reichswald, the zoo director answered with clear words: “That would be complete nonsense. The foxes' territories there are occupied, it would be extremely stressful for the animals. We have to get out of our heads that we are doing something good if we are to save all animals. Killing is part of the protection of species. We fight invasive species to protect endangered ones. "

In his testimony, Encke also pointed out that foxes do not belong to the endangered species and that there is a high density of animals throughout Bavaria.

He is aware that he will have to live with foxes in the zoo in the future too.

There is of course a fence that completely surrounds the zoo, but that would not prevent the clever animals from entering.

Especially since these could simply slip through the gate at the main entrance.

Lack of space in the forest as a problem to keep the foxes alive

The problem of lack of space for foxes in German forests is one of them

also known to animal rights activists such as Robert Derbeck, the chairman of the Noris eV animal welfare association in Nuremberg *, as he

explained

when asked by

.

“It is right, there is not enough space.

But you should still try to give every animal a chance.

Because killing is a final decision. ”According to Derbeck, there are also special sanctuary for foxes, such as in the Bavarian Forest, as an alternative to killing.

The release could work there, but he has also received rejections because aviaries are already occupied.

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