If you normally salivate over Zoo Doo in the spring, you’ll have to wait until fall.
Woodland Park Zoo has canceled this year’s Spring Fecal Fest because of unacceptable levels of the herbicide clopyralid (klo-PEER-uh-lid) in its supply of Zoo Doo. The zoo says it has isolated the source, so a new supply of Zoo Doo should be ready by the fall.
“Through our regular testing procedures, we traced the persistent herbicide to specialized animal feeds for our non-primate herbivores (plant eaters),” explained EJ Hook, Woodland Park Zoo’s maintenance operations manager. “In response, we’ve made changes with our feed supplier and switched to organically certified feeds. We expect to see the changes in future test results.”Â
Zoo Doo is a fully composted blend of animal manures mixed with straw bedding, grass, leaves and wood chips from the grounds of Woodland Park Zoo. The non-primate herbivores, such as elephants, hippos, giraffe, zebra, elk and more, contribute to Zoo Doo. Customers are randomly drawn from mailed-in entry cards for each Fecal Fest.
Two-gallon containers and pints of Zoo Doo reserved from last fall are still available at the ZooStore during regular zoo hours. One million pounds of Zoo Doo is produced each year, saving the zoo $60,000 a year in disposal costs and generating income for the zoo.
