Three wolves have been killed to make way for a 'new and modern area' at Copenhagen Zoo.
Staff at the zoo in Denmark's capital said the three male wolves, who have been kept in the enclosure since the 1980s, were killed after their 40-year-old enclosure no longer met with current animal requirements.
The wolf enclosure will temporarily serve as a playground for children before becoming a part of the elephant and antelope open area.
Technical director of the zoo, Mads Frost Bertelsen, said: 'We are constantly checking our facilities, both out of consideration for the animals and with a view to the guest experience.
The three male wolves, who have been kept at Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark since the 1980s, were killed to make way for a 'new and modern area'. (Stock image)
'The wolf enclosure was 40 years old and long ago no longer met the requirements that are made today in animal welfare.
'Therefore the facility had to be closed so that we can create a new and more modern area. Since we couldn't put the zoo's three male wolfs anywhere else, we had to kill them. '
The zoo has said brown bears will also disappear in order to create more space for the more popular polar bears.
It comes just a year after a 23-year-old white rhino named Kurt was killed at Copenhagen Zoo 'for its own wellbeing' after losing 880lbs in three weeks.
The animal was thought to have been suffering from a skin condition called superficial nectolytic dermatitis, which primarily attacked the rhino's face, mouth and nostrils.
The enclosure will become a part of the elephant and antelope open area at Copenhagen zoo
The zoo in Denmark said brown bears will also disappear in order to create more space for polar bears. Pictured: A brown bear in Copenhagen Zoo
Vets at the zoo in Denmark's capital said severe ulcers meant Kurt had lost all desire to eat prior to his death this morning.
In 2014, the Danish zoo sparked international outrage after killing two lions and their two cubs to make way for a new male lion.
The zoo said it had to kill the two cubs as they were 'not old enough to fend for themselves' and would have been killed by the new male lion.
However the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals criticised the action and said the zoo had brought the animals into the world onto to 'bump them off'.