Old Christmas trees enrich the lives of Northumberland College zoo animals

Blyth Star Enterprises, which supports people with complex mental health needs and learning disabilities, has donated more than 20 Nordman Firs to Northumberland College instead of sending them off to be recycled.

The charity runs a horticultural day service at Stakeford Nurseries, which had a number of trees left over after the festive period which they did not want to see go to waste.

They therefore arranged for the trees to go to the college’s zoo, which is based at Kirkley Hall, near Ponteland.

The zoo is home to more than 150 different species of mammals, birds and reptiles – many of whom will benefit from the addition of the Christmas trees to their enclosures.

Head keeper Emily Grey said: “There are lots of different ways we can use natural materials like trees around the zoo.

“We can use them with some of our animals like the goats and alpacas to provide sensory enrichment as they provide new smells and textures for them to explore, while for the lemurs, coatis and tamarins, they 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!”

Graham Carr, horticultural services manager at Stakeford Nurseries, added: “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!”