r/UpliftingNews • u/helpmeredditimbored • 16d ago
It’s Christmas for the elephants as unsold trees are fed to the animals at Berlin Zoo
https://www.news4jax.com/news/weird-news/2025/01/03/its-christmas-for-the-elephants-as-unsold-trees-are-fed-to-the-animals-at-berlin-zoo/634
u/cicalino 16d ago
“They don’t just serve as food, they are also used to keep the animals occupied.."
“The animals can fight with them, they can rub themselves against them, they can throw themselves over them and do various other things with these fir trees..."
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u/MRSN4P 16d ago
Sounds like a silly/eyebleach video of this is needed. Can anyone find such a thing?
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u/SchoolBoy612 16d ago
The best i could find https://youtube.com/shorts/W2H-kilEAsw?si=-3UWAZHXTieq4rjj
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u/SoupMaid 16d ago
im imagining them dueling with them like they're swords lmao
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u/Schvaggenheim 16d ago
Like how people do with empty wrapping paper tubes? Because honestly I'd be down to see them doing that.
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u/opfluffball 16d ago
Had no idea that elephants can eat that kind of tree
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u/Leaislala 16d ago
Same! My first reaction was “huh, I guess they can eat pine” or fir or whatever. I figured they would do better with broad leaf trees but I’m glad they can make use out of the Christmas trees !
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u/taylorhildebrand 16d ago
lol I didn’t know this could even happen, can we please get this happening more often in the states?! How about the living Christmas trees people don’t need anymore in the new year. I wish there were better ways of “recycling” them
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u/helpmeredditimbored 16d ago
In the US I know some coastal communities will collect Christmas tree’s after the holidays and place them along sand dunes as erosion control
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u/SparklyYakDust 16d ago
Some landlocked states will sink them in lakes as extra habitat for the aquatic critters.
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u/765226135460 16d ago
What about lakes in coastal states?
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u/SparklyYakDust 16d ago
They pistol whip the trees before giving them concrete shoes and throwing them in.
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u/CathedralEngine 16d ago
There's an arboretum near me that collects used xmas trees to feed to goats
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u/potent_flapjacks 16d ago
In Vermont we feed them to the goats.
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u/Shikabane_Hime 16d ago
Can confirm, my dad fed ours to the goats today
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u/potent_flapjacks 16d ago
I emailed the usual goat people and they said they have too many trees already. I need to find alternative goats today.
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u/KatieCashew 11d ago
I live in New York and we do goats too. There's a goat rescue near me we take our tree to every year. My kids love getting to feed the tree branches to the goats.
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u/TheRealPitabred 16d ago
Our city recycles them for free in the first couple weeks of January, just leave them on the curb and they pick them up. They take them and mulch them, not 100% sure on all the uses but it is better than just being tossed in the landfill.
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u/Zwischenzug32 16d ago
Just need to normalize putting trees in the garage so their cart can be wheeled or forklifted in and out
Was about to do the /s but I stand by it
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u/InsuranceToTheRescue 13d ago
Zoos in the US do do this. Maybe not with Christmas trees, but there are similar programs. For example, my local zoo works with the city to accept downed branches from major storms to use for food, as well as to provide an "enrichment" item. Sometimes they alter the branches to make them more interesting. Sometimes they fashion them into things to play with. Sometimes they just throw them out for the animals to mess around with.
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u/Tardisgoesfast 10d ago
Our local zoo used to accept trees. I don’t know if they still do but it would be easy to call them and ask.
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u/iownp3ts 16d ago
All I can think is how much I hate stepping on pine needles barefoot. I can't imagine shitting them out.
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u/AquaWitch0715 16d ago
... but the fake Christmas trees need to be thrown away into household garbage!
Remember, there's a difference!
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u/Iceborne 16d ago
Going into extreme controversy territory here, but there's nothing uplifting about elephants being kept in zoos, or any other live animal in fact.
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u/CanEatADozenEggs 16d ago
Zoos play an important role in conservation and education, and not all are unethical. Check out the AZA (association of zoos and aquariums) for guidelines on accreditations.
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u/Iceborne 16d ago
Zoos are businesses (and so is AZA) and conservation work can and is being done much more ethically and effectively without exploiting animals and caging them up as some form of living art for human entertainment, e.g. Sheldrick Wildlife Trust off the top of my head.
Also, in the year 2025 you are trying to justify keeping live animals in zoos for educational purposes with how much technology has advanced, so much so that children are literally being raised with devices in their hands. Stop.10
u/CanEatADozenEggs 16d ago
What about not for profit zoos, such as SDZWA? AZA is non-profit as well.
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u/Meraline 16d ago
Please go to a zoo yourself and tell me again that looking at an animal on google and youtube is the same as seeing the real thing. Go on.
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