(US) Unsold Christmas trees become food, toys at the zoo

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Unsold Christmas trees become food, toys at the zoo

Scott Huddleston

Express-News

12/27/2006

 

Christmas finally came Wednesday for Alport and Lucky, but not in the form of

gifts under the tree.

 

The two full-grown elephants at the San Antonio Zoo got the tree itself. Several

trees, in fact.

 

Using their trunks to smell, then lift, the girls began munching — not

mulching — the firs and pines in their enclosure.

 

The holidays are a time for indulging. When you're weighing in at around 8,000

pounds, what's a little extra roughage?

 

In recent years, Holiday Hills Christmas Trees has donated unsold trees as a

form of enrichment, or stimulation, for zoo animals. This year, the Salem, Ore.,

tree dealer sold about 15,000 trees in South Texas. It gave 200 unsold trees to

the zoo, which will use them as a treat for its animals for about 10 days.

 

" That's a Christmas tree! She's picking it up, " Jaylen Hart, 6, said as Alport,

an African elephant, lifted an entire tree to her mouth.

 

Her Asian cohort, Lucky, daintily broke off limbs to eat.

 

Having opened a bounty of gifts Monday by his Christmas tree, including an MP3

player and Bionicle action figure, Hart was drawn to the images of an Asian and

an African elephant in a Texas zoo playing with a holiday tree from Oregon.

 

" We were wondering if they were going to eat them, " said his mother, Katie Hart.

 

Typically, animals at the zoo have lots of things to play with, including balls,

boxes, tractor tires, pools, hammocks and rope-and-bamboo bridges. Christmas

trees have a unique, natural smell and texture that many species, including

large cats, primates, birds and hoof stock, enjoy by scratching, sniffing,

crushing or rubbing.

 

" They all use the trees in different ways, " said John Gramieri, the zoo's mammal

curator. " The elephants go through them the fastest. "

 

Since the zoo never closes — it had nearly 1,400 guests Monday — visitors

get to see the animals enjoy the trees as long as the weather is mild. As the

trees dry out and lose their scent, zookeepers often hide food in the limbs, to

stimulate senses the animals would use to forage.

 

A Dama gazelle rubbed his horned head against one Christmas tree, as if sparring

with it.

 

Two species of small primates rescued in Africa, where they're hunted for meat,

were using the trees in their play routine. The black mangabeys were jumping on

theirs, while the Wolf's guenons were using theirs to play hide-and-seek —

monkey-style.

 

Ruthie and Lizzett, American black bears, sniffed, pawed and carried their

trees, giving guests a show near the zoo entrance.

 

Elaine Smith, co-owner of Holiday Hills, said she and her husband, Daryll, have

given their leftover trees to churches or social agencies, for needy families,

or to municipal mulching programs.

 

Other uses for the unsold trees, on request, have included bonfires, underwater

beds for lake bass, and chipping and mulching for sand dune stabilization on the

Texas coast. Smith said she prefers letting a zoo or wildlife sanctuary have

them.

 

" I'm an animal lover, so it's a good use for them, " she said.

 

And animals, especially elephants, like holiday leftovers.

 

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