Culling animals in zoos is the process of segregating animals from a group according to desired or undesired characteristics; the process often ends with the segregated animals being killed. Several reasons are given for culling in zoos, including a lack of space, the genes of the culled animals are over-represented in the zoo population, the (young) animal might be attacked or killed, or the culled animals have contracted a disease. Mark Bekoff, an American biologist and ethologist coined the term "zoothanasia" to describe zoo culling.
Because animals in zoos are killed for many reasons, such as old age or disease, just as pet animals are often euthanized because of health problems, it is beyond the scope of this list to identify every case where an animal is killed in a zoo. The list focuses on controversial, unusual or otherwise noteworthy cases where the incident was reported in national or international sources.
The following is a list of animals where their culling and euthanisation in zoos and wildlife (safari) parks has been covered by the general media.