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Nürnberg Zoo Upholds Plans to Cull Guinea Baboons Due to Overcrowding

Zoo officials say no relocation offers have materialized for the 45-strong troop, prompting ongoing legal reviews.

Guinea-Paviane im Tiergarten Nürnberg

Overview

  • Zoo management has designated culling as the fallback option if transfer agreements for its Guinea baboons do not materialize and has not set a timeline for the procedure.
  • Enclosure space designed for about 25 baboons now shelters roughly 45 individuals, generating conflict-driven injuries within the troop.
  • Rewilding was dismissed due to a lack of secure habitats in their native range, underscoring the zoo's reliance on the European breeding program to preserve the species.
  • Director Dag Encke described the situation as a necessary but regrettable "factual dilemma" as the zoo evaluates its obligations under animal welfare, conservation and criminal statutes.
  • Pro Wildlife and the Deutscher Tierschutzbund have threatened legal action, arguing that killing healthy baboons over self-imposed space constraints violates German animal welfare law.