Many of our animals eat meat and fish. And that won’t change. Many of our visitors also eat meat and fish in our zoo. However, a change in behavior can be observed here. A similar trend is observed in the entire Swiss population: with a few exceptions, per capita meat consumption has been declining since the 1980s, albeit slowly. To meet the need for more vegetarian or vegan alternatives, Zurich Zoo has reacted early and adjusted its range of restaurants.
Today, almost half of the hot dishes that we offer are lean. The zoo has a 44 percent share of sales of hot vegetarian main courses. If we also count the sausage that we sell at our sausage kiosks as the main dish, then the lean portion is still a third. Given that only about 5 percent of the Swiss population eats only meat, this is a very high proportion.
Where do we get meat and fish from? The zoo decided several years ago to use only Swiss products. This means: no shrimp and sea fish cocktail – at least for our guests. Because, of course, we feed our marine animals in a way appropriate to their species: shrimp for our marine fish and marine fish for our seals and penguins.
If we look at the diet of our predator animals, we see that it is very diverse. Small mealworms are on the bird menu, and the lion eats whole pieces of beef. But the animals have one thing in common: they are fed exclusively with Swiss meat, local whenever possible. And sometimes it’s more local than local… because: We also feed animals from our own zoo.
Again and again we have to slaughter the animals from our farm. Why are we doing this? The reasons for this are very different: It happens that the animal is injured and there is no way to recover. We may have animals that we can no longer keep. Because, for example, our lyre deer will not accept another adult deer next to him for territorial reasons, and no other zoo can offer us a suitable place for him.
So it may happen that we have to slaughter a young male deer. What may seem strange at first glance makes a lot of sense at second glance: our predators need meat. A deer is from a zoo or a cow from a nearby farm for a predator is indifferent. But we are sure that the deer had the best living conditions we had before the moment of slaughter and that thanks to their feed – without antibiotics and drugs – it will be the best meat for our animals.