Lion cubs in German Zoo
Most people don’t know that there are no legitimate release programs to send lions back to the wild. Big cats are bred in zoos because people will pay to see the cute cubs on display, but each year the older cats have to go in order to make way for the new cubs. They are often killed (culled) or sold out the back door to backyard breeders, hunting ranches and taxidermists.
Two lion cubs look peer out from under a tree trunk at the Hagenbeck zoo in Hamburg on Thursday, June 23, 2011.
A lion cub plays with its mother’s tail at the Hagenbeck zoo in Hamburg, Germany on Thursday, June 23, 2011.
Lion cubs play at the Hagenbeck zoo in Hamburg on June 23. The cubs were born on March 31, 2011 at the zoo.
