Plenty of post-Christmas pines and firs for beaver and friends
The lucky animals at Singapore Zoo cannot see the wood for the trees these days, thanks to the hundreds of post-Christmas pines and firs that have been donated on Saturday.
The leafy deluge will give River Safari star Justin Beaver and his furry buddies plenty to bark about and it's all thanks to the many Singaporeans who heard the call of the Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS).
They had left 300 or so used trees at the Zoo's car park on Saturday from 9am until 2pm as part of an initiative by WRS to boost the animals' well-being.
Several WRS employees shared the appeal for Christmas trees informally in the past week.
Last Saturday, veteran zookeeper Kumaran Sesshe, wrote on Facebook from the perspective of Justin Beaver: "Hi, I'm Justin Beaver! My animal friends and I at WRS are always looking for something to gnaw, scratch, sniff and play with."
Anyone with "real, lush and green" Christmas trees to spare after the festive season could donate them to the WRS, added "Justin".
Beavers gnaw on wood to keep their teeth sharp and to stop them from growing too long.
The WRS earlier told The Straits Times that its staff noticed that the many trees that people threw out after Christmas would, with their bracing pine scent, make good enrichment tools for the animals.
WRS said in a Facebook post on Saturday: "It's a wrap everyone! Thank you for the overwhelming response, our Christmas minions have closed the tree donation point.
"Thanks for donating your Christmas trees to Justin Beaver and his friends. Stay tuned to see what our animals get up to with the trees soon."
- GRACE LEONG
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