The Wildnispark Zurich, which happens to be Switzerland’s oldest zoo, offers visitors a “primordial nature experience” full of unique ways to encounter native animals “such as bear, moose, European bison, hare, [and] lynx.” It turns out that deer and boars could also be encountered on plates in the zoo’s adjoining restaurant. The news site Der Landbote went ahead and fact-checked some local rumors that some of the restaurant’s proteins were sourced a little too locally, and a park spokesman confirmed as much, saying it was some “very ecological,” circle-of-life stuff.
The need apparently arises from the fact that about 100 animals too many are born on the premises each year — the “natural cycle” — so the park has to do something with them because no one, for example, wants to adopt a wild boar that’s going to gain hundreds of pounds and grow tusks. According to official literature, it’s actually safer to be a local tree — nothing on the 12-square-kilometer grounds has been cut down during the last 14 years. “The natural processes from germination to aging to death of trees can now occur without human disturbance,” the park helpfully notes.
Local activists have already begun to pressure the park to take the wildlife off the menu.
