Zoo animals love old Christmas trees

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twinvalley

Hundreds of donated Christmas trees are bringing a lot of joy to the animals at the Twin Valley Zoo.

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The Langford Church Road zoo – which boasts more than 300 animals of 80 different species – put out a call for people to drop off their trees after Christmas and was overwhelmed by the response.

“We’re so thankful for the donations,” said Jennifer Stallman, who, with husband Tom, co-owns the family run zoo, which has been in operation since 1991. “But please don’t send any more. We got more trees this year than in the last three years combined.”

She called the Christmas trees an “enrichment project” for the animals.

“Some eat them, some roll on them and some just like the feeling of the bristles and the different types of evergreens.”

Stallman said the animals seem to react to the  scents of the trees.

“Leroy Brown, our dromedary camel, is such a happy camel because he gets a tree almost daily,” she said. “He’ll flop on the ground on it, roll on it, pick it up and throw it and munch on the needles. He has a heyday.”

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The zookeepers often post photos and short videos on Facebook and Instagram of the various animals reacting to the trees.

“The Siberian tigers especially love the trees,” said Stallman. “Sian loves to hide in them and they all roll in them and mark them. Then we move the trees to other tiger enclosures and they get to smell the scent from the other tigers. We’ll use these trees right up until spring.”

Stallman said the trees have been entertaining for everyone – the animals, zoo supporters on social media and the zookeepers, one of whom created a Christmas tree teepee of sorts for the peccaries – a pig-like animal.

“It’s just something different. The wintertime is long and the trees bring freshness into the barn.”

Tom Stallman noted that, once the trees are rolled on and chewed up, they’ll be burned in a wood stove that heats some of the zoo buildings.

Because of the pandemic, the zoo faced lost revenue from general admission tickets and school trips. So, the zoo launched a successful public appeal through a GoFundMe page.

“We’re so thankful to the community,” said Jennifer Stallman.

“We’ve had donations from $5 to a couple of hundred dollars,” she said, adding that local farmers and Miss Dixie’s Foundation, which collects pet food donations for those in needed, donated supplies.

“So, we broke even this year. It was a huge community effort that kept us afloat.”

The zoo has 11 employees but normally just three or four are there each day. Some volunteer on their days off.

The zoo had to forgo renovation work that had been planned.

“The animal’s needs are always status quo. They need to be fed and clean and socialized,” said Jennifer Stallman.

“We’ll somehow survive the coming year, too, because we have to. There are 318 animals that rely on us, along with 11 employees.”

For more information on Twin Valley Zoo, or to donate, go to www.twinvalleyzoo.com or follow it on Facebook.

SGamble@postmedia.com

@EXPSGamble