Guinea baboons killed in German zoo due to overcrowding

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July 30, 2025
3 min read

Guinea baboons killed in German zoo due to overcrowding

A German zoo in Nuremberg has culled a dozen healthy Guinea baboons because of overcrowding in the enclosure. The culled animals were later fed to predators.

Seven animal rights activists have been arrested after entering the Tiergarten Nürnberg zoo to protest the decision, with one woman gluing her hands to the ground close to the entrance.

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Zoo overcrowding has resulted in an “increase in conflicts” between the Guinea baboons, the zoo said, adding that there was no alternative to re-house the animals. Allowing animals to breed too freely “cannot constitute such a reason” for them to be killed, Christoph Maisack, head of the German Legal Association for Animal Protection Law said.

The zoo revealed its intentions to kill the Guinea baboons last year when the population exceeded 40. More than the 25 that the enclosure, completed in 2009, can house. Zoos in other countries which baboons had previously been sent to have also reached their capacity. Contraception measures are failing to slow the growth in the population, the zoo said.

Earlier this week, the zoo announced it would be closing for “operational reasons” which led to demonstrators climbing the fence near the entrance. The demonstrators were arrested.

Later, the zoo confirmed that it had killed the Guinea baboons, none of which were pregnant females or part of any scientific study. The animals were shot with samples taken for research purposes and their bodies were fed to predators housed in the zoo.

The decision came after a “yearslong consideration,” Dag Encke, the zoo’s director said, adding that culling animals can be a “legitimate last resort to preserve the population.”

But animal rights groups have filed a criminal complaint for the culling of animals they say were in “perfect health.”

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