The novel coronavirus that is now creating panic in all nooks and corners of the planet, has already killed more than 1,34,000 people worldwide. The pandemic outbreak has destabilised all sectors of living, and this pathogen has not spared zoos too. As COVID-19 has emptied zoos in Germany, the owner of one has revealed that she will be compelled to embrace a heartbreaking strategy to stay financially afloat.
Is killing animals a solution?
Verena Kaspari, the owner of Neumünster Zoo revealed that killing some animals to save the lives of other animals is the only resort left in front of her during this hardship. Kaspari made it clear that this extreme step is also not capable to solve the financial crisis faced by zoo owners.
"We've listed the animals we'll have to slaughter first. If it comes to it, I'll have to euthanize animals, rather than let them starve. At the worst, we would have to feed some of the animals to others," said Kaspari, BBC reports.
The zoo owner also speculated that the total loss incurred by the zoo due to coronavirus outbreak will be about 1,75,000 euros. It should be noted that Kaspari's zoo belongs to an association that is not covered by the state emergency fund.
Are animals affected emotionally?
Some zoo owners claim that the absence of visitors due to the coronavirus outbreak is affecting animals emotionally. As per these zoo owners, several animals, especially apes are missing the attention they would usually get from the public.
Hachmeister at Berlin Zoo revealed that apes usually love to watch people, and the absence of visitors in the zoo is making them emotionally disturbed. She added that parrots and seals also love human attention, and they are now missing it very badly due to COVID-19 lockdown.
A few days back, it has been reported that two giant pandas in a Moscow zoo were behaving in such a way that they miss something.
