Protesters break into German zoo which culled 12 baboons

A German zoo said Tuesday it had killed 12 baboons due to overcrowding in their enclosure, with animal rights activists breaking into the zoo in protest.

Police arrested seven demonstrators who briefly entered the zoo complex in the southern city of Nuremberg.

"We know that many will find this decision hard to understand, that it has annoyed, upset or infuriated them," the management of the zoo said in a statement.

The zoo initially announced plans to kill some of its baboons in February last year, saying that their group had "reached a size that exceeds the capacity of the enclosure, which was already expanded in 2009".

It examined offers to take in some of the animals but was unable to make any of them work.

With the overpopulation causing "an increase in conflicts with corresponding injuries to the animals", the zoo said that no suitable alternative to killing the animals could be found and on Monday said it would have to start preparing to kill baboons.

Animal rights activists staged a protest at the zoo on Tuesday, when the zoo closed for "operational reasons", which the activists took to mean the zoo had been closed for the baboon cull.

The group was detained a few meters inside the entrance. One of those arrested was a woman who had briefly glued herself to the ground behind the zoo's main entrance before being freed by police.

Shortly afterward, the zoo said it had killed 12 baboons.

Speaking at a press conference, Director Dag Encke said that Nuremberg zoo was acting according to the criteria set out by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA).

They stipulate that culling the animals can be a "legitimate last resort to preserve the population", Encke said.

The zoo's chief biologist Joerg Beckmann said that pregnant females and those being observed as part of a scientific study had not been killed.

Samples were taken for research purposes, and the bodies were then to be fed to the zoo's predators.

"They were humanely killed with a bullet shot and taken to the next station. There, numerous scientific samples were taken for various institutions," said Beckmann.

Animal rights groups filed a criminal complaint Tuesday against the zoo for killing the baboons when they had been "in perfect health".

"Animal welfare laws permits the killing of vertebrates only if there is a reasonable cause," said Christoph Maisack, head of the German Legal Association for Animal Protection Law (DJGT).

"Letting them breed too freely cannot constitute such a reason," said Maisack.