Danish zoo in hot water over public call for animals as food

Copenhagen: Any chickens or rabbits to spare? Denmark s Aalborg Zoo is seeking animals to feed to its predators after they have been euthanised...

Copenhagen: Any chickens or rabbits to spare? Denmark's Aalborg Zoo is seeking animals to feed to its predators -- after they have been euthanised -- a plea that has sparked a public backlash.

"We are looking for small livestock, not pets," Anette Sofie Warncke Nutzhorn, one of the zoo's managers, told AFP on Tuesday. "It can be for instance a chicken that doesn't lay eggs anymore."

"Predators usually catch prey of this size, so it's like the natural course," she added.

The zoo has found itself in hot water since sending out the appeal in social media.

"If you have an animal that, for various reasons, has to go, you are welcome to donate it to us," it wrote last week.