[Melbourne Leader 7 Nov 2011 by Gilbert Gardiner] -- GREATER Dandenong parks and gardens produce tasty treats for some of the worlds’ largest land animals. For the past four years, the council has been helping feed zoo animals by collecting weeds for elephants and giraffes to eat. Greater Dandenong Council worker Dave Healy hatched the pest-turn-culinary delight plan after hearing on the radio that the zoo needed plant donations. “They mentioned mirror-bush and I knew we had a bit of it floating around, it used to grow quite wild,” he said. “We’re gradually getting rid of it, but in parts we let it regrow because it’s going to a good cause.”Zoo elephants and giraffes eat about 200 freshly-cut branches of foliage each week. Mr Healy and colleague Lindsay Patterson recently had the chance to feed pregnant elephant Num Oi at the zoo. “It was an awesome experience, I didn’t think I’d be standing right next to her,” Mr Healy said. “She was very gentle taking food out of our hands with her trunk.”[Photo caption: Melbourne Zoo keeper Tim Madigan feeds Mali. Picture: Mitch Bear.]
The zoo welcomes donations of plant species including a range of wattles, bamboo, willow and cherry plum as long as they have not been sprayed with pesticides. Melbourne Zoo landscape supervisor Simon Andrews welcomed the donations. “They’re very important to us, we’ve got five elephants here and we’d struggle to feed them without the community’s help.”
But it’s not only the elephants and giraffes munching on invasive weed species, with giant tortoises and primates joining in the food frenzy.The zoo collects about five truckloads of weed and plant species a year from Greater Dandenong.
Free copies of weed identification brochures are available through council on 9239 5100.
