German zoo plans to cull baboons, feed them to captive predators

A German zoo has announced plans to cull some of its 45-strong tribe of baboons and feed them to captive predators after contraception failed to stop the primates from breeding.

The director of the Nuremberg Zoo, Dag Encke, announced the 'sensible' plan to kill off nearly half of the baboon population in the zoo - to allegedly 'ensure the survival' of the species.

Zookeepers even tried putting the protected Guinea baboons on contraction, but this 'didn't work' as the monkeys kept replicating and the population continued to grow, according to a statement by the zoo.

The Nuremberg Zoo now has 45 apes in the monkey house, but this was designed to hold only 25 animals.

This lack of space resulted in additional stress for the primates and more arguments between these otherwise social animals, which increasingly often end in blood.

The healthy baboons which will be killed for conservation will either be handed over to science or fed to predators in the zoo.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature classified Guinea baboons as endangered and said they should be kept in zoos for species conservation.

The Guinea baboons live in protected areas in several West African countries, but because the population there has also surged, there is no space to relocate Nuremberg's primates to African countries either, Encke explained.

The zoo even tried to rehome the primates to a monkey sanctuary, but they already have a waiting list of more than 200 confiscated animals waiting for a new home.

The surge in the zoo's baboon population could endanger their survival, as the primates are getting too old and are having too few offspring due to the overcrowding in the monkey house, the zoo directed added.

If there were too few offspring, this would in turn destroy the social structure within the group.