Donated Christmas trees get a second life at the zoo

The presents are unwrapped, the cookies are crumbled, and that real Christmas tree will soon become a fire hazard. Most of us carry it to the curb for our local health departments to take care of, but some lucky trees make their way into the paws of animals living in zoos.

Since 1978, the Cape May County Park and Zoo in Middle Township, New Jersey, has solicited donations of undecorated Christmas trees from the community and unsold trees from neighboring businesses. The trees are then given to the more than 550 animals that call the South Jersey Zoo home.

“Not everyone can donate money to the zoo, and that’s totally fair. We’re a free zoo so everyone can come here. But if you want to donate a Christmas tree, I think it really makes people happy that they were able to help in some way,” said Kim Simpkins, animal keeper and enrichment coordinator. Popular science.

Why Christmas trees?

Fir, spruce and pine trees provide animals with important enrichment and additional shelter from the cold winter air. While the Jersey Shore is primarily associated with hot summer days, average low temperatures at the zoo can reach the low 20s in January. The donated Christmas tree can be used as a wind screen to protect animal enclosures.

“To block off the doors that lead to their cabins, we use freezer hatches. But it’s nice to have an extra layer of protection, so we’ll use Christmas trees,” says Simpkins. “We’ll do this for the wallabies.”

Nearby kangaroos often build small enclosures with stacked Christmas trees so they have another warm place to go.

Regis the red kangaroo plays with a Christmas tree

Christmas trees also provide enrichment for animals. For any animal in human care, whether it’s the family dog ​​or a lion at a zoo, enrichment gives them a creative outlet for physical activity, mental stimulation and a way to choose how they spend their time.

“Enrichment is when we provide the animal novel with some sort of natural behavior in the animal,” says Simpkins. “We have an enrichment plan for each of the animals at the zoo with their natural history and then what kinds of behaviors we think they need to do here at the zoo that they might not need because they’re not in the wild.”

Since zoo animals don’t have to work very hard for food, the team will work on enrichment activities to encourage them to use their natural foraging behaviors. For primates, keepers sometimes hide pieces of food in donated Christmas trees for them to find.

“Many might think of enrichment as simply providing food puzzle toys, but enrichment is much more than that,” says Dr. Kate Anderson, a veterinarian at Cornell University. Popular science. “Enrichment is about ensuring all of an animal’s needs are met and providing appropriate outlets for emotional, physical and mental stimulation. Their needs should include safety, predictability, hygiene, nutrition and much more.”

Simpkins adds that the zoo designs its enrichment, “according to its natural history, the personality of the individual”. [animal’s] needs and our habitats.

For the zoo, Christmas trees also provide a free way to provide their animals with these important enrichment items. Simpkins says durable plastic balls for lions and other enrichment items can cost $300 to $500 and don’t always last that long thanks to sharp teeth and claws. The donated items therefore allow keepers to entertain the animals on a limited budget.

“There are endless ways to provide enrichment, limited only by time, funding and imagination,” says Dr. Anderson. “I think that more than offering something “unique”, it is better to adopt a holistic approach to enrichment.”

Play with your trees

The zoo is home to more than 550 animals representing 250 species. Each animal has its own way of running to a new Christmas tree in and around its habitat.

“Lions really like carrying Christmas trees,” Simpkins laughs. “They like the smell of them.” Lions will also pee on trees and mark their territory as they would in the wild. When they mark the tree with their urine, it is a way of making it smell like them.

According to Dr. Anderson, enrichment also contributes to their well-being by giving animals free will and choice. “Enrichment for animals is akin to ‘self-care’ for humans,” she says. “Underenriched animals may be more excitable, hyperactive, vocalize more, play excessively or roughly, be aggressive, or not sleep well. They may also display unwanted behaviors such as scratching, destructive chewing, digging, or raiding trash.”

The zoo’s bison also love smelling Christmas trees, but their reaction to a new plant in their habitat can be considered a form of play. To biologists, play is considered something an animal does just for fun, not to seek food, shelter, or something else to survive. The zoo’s bison will bump into the trees around their yard and also use them as windbreaks.

Monkeys and other primates will also climb trees and treat them much like new furniture. However, it is mostly about food since the keepers put food in the trees for them to find.

“It depends on the species, but most of ours are frugivores, so we’ll put fruit in the tree and they’ll have to dig through the Christmas tree to find it,” Simpkins says. “It’s more like how they get fruit in the wild than a bowl. It’s great when keepers are really creative, combining different toys to make foraging more complex or more interesting, or different.”

According to Dr. Anderson, enrichment can even be as simple as giving animals choice and space to rest. “It is extremely important to be attentive to an animal’s sensory experience (all animals hear, smell and see the world differently than humans),” she says.

Interested donors can contact the zoo directly with any questions and are encouraged to read all instructions before donating. The zoo cannot take all the trees, so donors are encouraged to call quickly. You can also look for local mulching events, where your tree will be turned into wood chips that will nourish trees and plants. Goats also love Christmas trees, so contact local farms and see if they accept donations as well. If you live along the coast, check with your town about donating your tree, as it can help strengthen protective sand dunes.

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