A SWISS ZOO that killed a baby brown bear after it was neglected by its parents is planning to stuff its remains to teach children how “nature can be cruel”.
The Dahlholzi Zoo in Bern caused public outcry when it decided to put down the cub in April, after staff noticed it was being neglected by its mother and bullied by its father.
According to CNN, the father had previously mauled the cub’s sibling to death, and there were fears the cub was headed for the same fate.
The zoo decided not to interfere with the bears’ “natural” behaviour, deeming it kinder to kill the bear cub instead.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the zoo announced this week that the cub’s stuffed remains will go on display with information about the circumstances of its death.
Doris Slezak, head of the zoo’s education department, said:
Nature can be very cruel and that’s something we want to show kids. we think that it’s right that this bear still has a function after his death, and it will help people to understand nature.
However a spokesperson from Swiss Animal Protection has said the zoo acted “irresponsibly”:
You can’t leave wild animals in captivity to ‘nature’. Whoever keeps them must take responsibility for them.
Last year, a Danish zoo was embroiled in controversy after it put down a healthy giraffe and dissected it in front of visitors, many of them children. The meat was later fed to the lions.
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