During the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the Germans besieged Paris for five months. As usual Paris quickly ran out of food. Parisians began to eat horses, cats, dogs and rats. Then, they turned to the zoo animals. Sadly only rich people could afford to buy “exotic meat”. Antelopes, camels, zebras, elephants were sold to the biggest bidder.
For comparison, during 2 year siege of Leningrad the inhabitants did not touch any animal from the zoo.
