Disused fir trees donated: Zoo animals are happy about Christmas trees!

North Somerset/England - A zoo is calling on people to donate discarded Christmas trees, as they enrich the animals ' everyday lives in many ways.

It is not the first time that the British Noah's Ark Zoo Farm in North Somerset has asked for such donations.

As the BBC reported, the zoo has received around 15,000 trees in the last five years.

These benefit the animals in various ways: elephants use the trees to eat the branches or search for food.

Other trees are processed into woodchips, which are used by spectacled bears and rhinos. The spectacled bears love the fresh scent, while rhinos enjoy rummaging through the chips.

Chris Wilkinson, curator at the zoo, explained how important the trees are to the animals: "The trees have a really nice smell that they are not used to. (...) For the elephants: Their habitat is full of sand, which means we can bury the trees and put them up to create a whole forest for them to explore."

People have until January 26 to drop off their old Christmas trees in the zoo's parking lot and give the animals a belated Christmas present.