Zoo Zürich has taken a controversial step by euthanizing three meerkats and feeding them to hyenas, citing species management as the reason.

The zoo explained that the meerkat enclosure had reached its capacity, leading to potential social tensions and territorial disputes.

In the wild, such issues would naturally resolve through migration or predation, but in the zoo, intervention was necessary.

The decision was made after exploring all other options, including transferring the animals to other zoos, which was not feasible due to the age of the meerkats.

The zoo emphasized that the animals were euthanized painlessly and that feeding them to hyenas provided a naturalistic feeding experience.

This practice, while controversial, is seen by some as a necessary measure to maintain animal welfare and ecological balance within the zoo.