Danish mother defends donating daughter’s pet pony to feed zoo lions

A Danish woman says she doesn’t feel bad about donating her daughter’s pet pony to a zoo that went viral for asking people to give them their unwanted pets to feed its big cats.

In early August 2025, the Aalborg Zoo in Aalborg, Denmark took over social media after creating a Facebook post about the dietary needs of their resident European lynxes.

“If you have an animal that needs to be removed from here for various reasons, you are welcome to donate it to us,” they wrote. “The animals are gently euthanized by trained staff and then used as food. This way, nothing goes to waste – and we ensure natural behavior, nutrition and well-being of our predators.”

The post instantly sparked controversy, prompting the zoo to disable comments and urge users against spreading “hateful and malicious rhetoric.”

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While the situation seems absurd to many pet-lovers online, one woman took the zoo up on their offer and shipped off her teenage daughter’s pet pony to be dinner for their wild cats.

Mom and daughter donate pony’s body to be eaten by lions

Speaking to The Times, Pernille Sohl says she donated the 22-year-old pony, named Chicago 57, after it was euthanized in 2020 due to health problems that were causing the animal pain.

“It might sound very dramatic and bizarre that you would feed your pet to animals in the zoo,” she said. “It is not like they are alive when they are given to the predators.”

According to Sohl, Chicago 57 was suffering from open wounds due to eczema caused by mosquito bites. When he finally died, she gave her 13-year-old daughter several options for how to handle his corpse.

“I gave Angelina the various options and she chose the one with the zoo, because it made the most sense,” Sohl said. “She wanted to follow the food chain. She wanted Chicago 57 to benefit other animals.”

Both Sohl and the Aalborg Zoo made it clear that the animals are euthanized prior to being used as a food source for the wild animals in captivity — a procedure the zoo did for Chicago 57, all while Sohl was present to supervise.

“There was a zookeeper standing there cuddling and kissing him — as if it was me standing with him,” she explained.

Chicago 57 was fed to the Aalborg Zoo’s lions, following the food chain,’ as Sohl described. While it might seem unusual to outsiders, this particular zoo has apparently “always” allowed euthanized pets to be donated to its animals, as per a statement from its chief zoologist, Anete Sofie Warncke Nutzhorn.

“We have always done it, as long as the zoo has existed,” Nutzhorn told local news outlets. “The debate has surprised us, but we are happy to take it and stand by it. We are put into the world to talk about nature and ecosystems.”

Thus far, the zoo has seen a number of former pets donated to its animal diet initiative, including 137 rabbits, 18 guinea pigs, 53 chickens and 22 horses.