Dozens of Christmas trees are being given a second lease of life at a zoo in Northumberland thanks to a donation from a local charity.
Blyth Star Enterprises, which supports individuals across the county with complex mental health needs and learning disabilities, has donated more than 20 Nordman Fir Christmas trees via its horticultural day service at Stakeford Nurseries to Northumberland College Zoo following the festive period to support with the provision of enrichment activities for the animals in their care.
Based at Kirkley Hall near Ponteland, Northumberland College Zoo is home to over 150 different species of mammals, birds and reptiles – many of whom will benefit from the addition of the Christmas trees to their enclosures.
“There are lots of different ways we can use natural materials like trees around the zoo,” said Emily Grey, Head Keeper at Northumberland College Zoo.
“We can use them with some of our animals like the goats and alpacas to provide sensory enrichment as it provides new smells and textures for them to explore, while for some of our other species, like the lemurs, coatis and tamarins, the trees help recreate the environments they would live in in the wild – we can hide food in the branches to encourage natural foraging and the goats really enjoy eating the trees too!
“We’re very grateful to Graham and the team at Stakeford Nurseries for their kind donation.”
Graham Carr, Horticultural Services Manager at Stakeford Nurseries, added:
“Across all of Blyth Star’s services, we like to operate as sustainably as possible and reuse materials where we can.
“Following the Christmas period, we had a number of real Christmas trees left in stock which we didn’t want to see go to waste. After seeing reports on the national news about zoos in other parts of the country making use of old Christmas trees, we thought we would reach out to our local zoo to see if it was something they would be interested in – and they were!
“We’re delighted to see the trees getting a second lease of life and that so many animals are going to benefit from them.”
Northumberland College Zoo is currently closed for the winter season and will reopen to the public on Saturday 22nd February 2025.
For more information, visit https://northumberland.ac.uk/for-visitors/northumberland-college-zoo/ or to find out more about Stakeford Nurseries, click here.
