On Tuesday, 29 July 2025, Nuremberg City Zoo reduced the size of its group of Guinea baboons by twelve animals. This last remaining step of the cull was preceded by many years of intensive deliberation and the search for alternatives. It was carried out in consultation with the responsible supervisory authorities, the veterinary and environmental authorities and the coordinators of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA) conservation breeding programme. The downsizing of the group was unavoidable because the number of 43 animals in the group had far exceeded the 25 animals for which the baboon enclosure at the zoo is designed.
The zoo is aware that this decision is difficult for many people to understand and that it leaves them irritated, concerned or angry. For the zoo itself, its employees and all those involved in the decision-making process, it represents the most difficult path. It affects everyone without exception.
The experts at the zoo have discussed and examined this step intensively over many years with biologists, vets, animal keepers, zoologists, lawyers and scientists - as well as all conceivable alternatives. In February 2024, the zoo actively went public with the issue. Zoo Director Dr Dag Encke explained the de facto dilemma and its background to the City of Nuremberg's Environment Committee: If the zoo is to fulfil its legal mandate to protect species, it must maintain healthy and reproductive populations in a limited space for decades and therefore also breed animals for future generations.
At the same time, he is responsible for keeping the animals in his care according to their needs: This is the work that animal keepers, biologists, researchers and vets at the zoo dedicate themselves to every day. It is important for primates to be integrated into a functioning social organisation, which is largely characterised by reproductive activity and a healthy age structure. With a group size of 43 Guinea baboons, the zoo was no longer able to fulfil its high standards of animal welfare.
The facility was expanded in 2009 so that, with 25 adult animals, it also met the requirements of the mammal report published in 2014 by the then Federal Ministry of Food Seite 2 von 4 and Agriculture (now the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Home Affairs). The active dialogue with institutions that offered to take in baboons after the report was published in the Nuremberg City Council's Environment Committee in February 2024 did not result in a concrete takeover offer.
In consultation with the relevant supervisory authorities, the veterinary and environmental authorities and the coordinators of the EEP (conservation breeding programme, EAZA ex situ programme), the zoo therefore had to make a decision in good time before the winter to reduce the baboon group, which it considers to be technically correct and reasonable after weighing up all the circumstances.
Over the past few months, zoo staff have worked with external scientists to develop so-called decision trees for each animal and for the group as a whole, which were used to decide on the removal of individual animals. The decision criteria included the age structure within the group, the sex ratio, the animal's training status and whether it was pregnant or nursing a young animal. Every female that was considered for removal was examined to rule out the possibility that she was pregnant. Up until the moment when the animals were individually killed in a transport crate by bullet shot after identification in accordance with animal welfare regulations, the situation was no different from a transport to another location. Two animals died during inhalation anaesthesia for reasons as yet unexplained. The zoo has sent their bodies to the pathology department to clarify the causes. A total of three adult males and nine adult females were killed to bring the group to 26 adults and five juveniles. The remaining group is made up of a balanced gender ratio of older, experienced animals, younger, sexually mature animals and juveniles.
As with all animals, the zoo has put the animals' bodies to good use as far as possible. Firstly, it has made various samples available to different research institutions. Some of these, such as tissue samples from the spleen or liver, cannot be obtained from animals living in the wild, but they are very valuable for scientific purposes. Bones and skeletons are also prepared for research purposes. The muscle meat is fed to the predators in the zoo.
Due to massive safety concerns, it was unfortunately not possible for the zoo to announce the closure associated with the killing earlier than Tuesday morning. The zoo endeavoured to disseminate the information as widely as possible in a short space of time and to reach school classes and kindergarten groups in particular. On Tuesday 29 July, visitors were provided with information on ticketing and alternative excursion destinations by means of on-site signage and the distribution of information material. The zoo asks for your understanding and expressly apologises for any inconvenience caused.
The zoo has actively offered its Guinea baboons for free delivery to suitable institutions in its worldwide network of over 1,300 institutions and beyond. In September 2024, zoo director Dr Dag Encke and a delegation from the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) visited the Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Centres (GZRRC) - now known as ‘Vantara’ - to discuss whether it would be possible to hand over a group of baboons. After an initially very promising exchange, no concrete agreements could be reached. According to their European statutes, zoos can only work with organisations that adhere to international rules (e.g. CITES/Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and where there is transparency regarding the origin of their animal population - in this way they want to and must avoid zoos themselves contributing to the illegal wildlife trade. However, it was not possible to review open questions of fact.
To date, Nuremberg Zoo has not received a concrete takeover offer from the Wales Great Ape and Monkey Sanctuary (WAMS). Following the initial contact by the Great Ape Project (GAP) in February 2024, which it claims was made ‘in the name of and on behalf of’ WAMS, the zoo actively approached both the GAP and WAMS and asked for answers to basic questions about the husbandry conditions at WAMS and the capacity of the sanctuary. The answers to these questions are still pending.
Claims that the questionnaire could only be filled out if the potential rehoming centre agreed to continue breeding with the animals are not true. In July 2025, the zoo contacted the director of WAMS directly. In his reply, he did not provide any of the required information on the possible keeping of the animals, nor did he promise to do so - but described the questionnaire as ‘appalling’ and ‘insulting’.
The zoo expanded the baboon enclosure in 2009, increasing its indoor capacity fivefold. A second expansion would not answer the fundamental question and would also be at the expense of other urgently needed capacity expansions for other endangered species such as harpy eagles, black-backed tapirs and gorillas.
Nuremberg Zoo makes its decisions as part of international efforts to slow down the extinction of species caused by human activities. As an active member of the World Conservation Union, it co-operates with hundreds of other institutions both inside and outside the natural habitat of animals, plants and fungi to be protected. The zoo will continue to do its utmost to explain issues that are difficult and emotionally challenging for everyone, such as the killing of animals for species conservation, and to engage in social debate.
Background information on the alternatives that the zoo has examined and also used in recent years to slow down the growth of the group size and to be able to release animals in order to reduce the group size can be found here. What is the purpose of reserve populations? Of course, species extinction cannot be reduced or even stopped by the efforts of zoos alone. Zoos play a very specific role in an extensive network of conservation organisations. They can maintain healthy populations of species that can be kept and reproduced well in human care for generations. This gives local conservation organisations time to restore or effectively protect habitats. Zoos then provide the animals for reintroductions from their populations.
Zoos are currently under great pressure to carry out so-called last-resort measures, in which the last known individuals or populations are removed from the wild to prevent their extinction. This makes the responsibility of zoos to provide space and expertise for the final rescue of species overwhelmingly heavy. Against this backdrop, the fundamental debate about killing for species conservation is of fundamental importance.
