A zoo in the German city of Nuremberg killed 12 baboons, citing that the facility did not have enough space to house a large group of animals.
The killing, which took place on Tuesday, July 29, was first announced in February 2024 as the Tiergarten Nürnberg Zoo shared that it had looked into other ways to deal with it, with nothing working out.
Despite the protests from animal rights activist groups, on Tuesday morning, the zoo announced that it was closing for the day for unspecified “operational reasons.”
According to the police, in the afternoon, several activists forced their way into the grounds, a few of them glued themselves to the ground before being detained.
Shortly afterward, the zoo said it had killed 12 baboons, German news agency dpa reported. Further details were not immediately available. Animal rights groups said they planned to file a criminal complaint.
With the Guinea baboon population reaching 43, the conflict among the animals had intensified.
The zoo has said it did take steps in the past to address the issue, with 16 baboons moving to zoos in Paris and China since 2011.
However, those zoos, and another in Spain, had reached their own capacity. An attempt at contraception was abandoned several years ago after failing to produce the desired results.
