Verena Kaspari, director of the Neumünster Zoo in northern Germany, has says the coronavirus has had a severe financial impact for zoos which struggle to stay operational.

In an interview with German newspaper Die Welt, Kaspari explained that large quantities of food are needed in the zoo every day - in addition to other costs, such as keeping tropic enclosures at the correct temperature, cleaning, and general care taking of the animals.

Kaspari noted that killing some animals so that others may live would be an unpleasant last resort, and that even this would not be sufficient in the long term to solve the zoo's financial problems. More heartbreaking yet, Kaspari said that "at worst, we would have to feed some of the animals to others."

Neumünster Zoo, which estimates a loss of around €175,000 this spring alone, is part of an association and therefore not covered by the German government's emergency fund for small businesses.

German zoos are jointly requesting that the government provide aid of €100m to keep them going through the crisis, while Jörg Junhold of Germany's national zoo association estimates that the lockdown is costing a typical German zoo in the area of €500,000 per week in lost turnover.