I call it “Zoop,” fertilizer from the plethora of exotic animals that poop daily at your local zoo. You can imagine collecting, transporting and disposing tons of daily waste represents a fairly large zoological capital expense. Is waste management of this scope a subject for budding zookeepers to study in college? The care and feeding of animals and reptiles is one thing. Their toilet habits and waste disposal is a whole nuther problem.
So what to do about all this poop? That’s the question a lot of the larger zoos are getting serious about and some are asking the key questions: Can we collect it ourselves? What can be done with all the doo-doo? Is there any dough in the doo?
Recently, the Detroit Zoo took the plunge and invested nearly $850,000 into a poop processing system that turns both animal and human waste into methane gas to produce electricity. Waste goes into airtight containers along with a special concoction of bacteria to ferment it to create gas for the turbines that generate the juice. Cost savings? About $80,000 per year.
The Seattle Zoo looked at their animal poop and came up with a different solution. Biannual Fecal Feasts in the Spring and Fall. Where they used to pay $60,000 annually for poop removal, their pooper scoopers are turning the zoo’s Seattle sludge into a rather exotic fertilizer for home gardeners. Will it pay off? How about making between $15,000 and $20,000 by raffling off bags of exotic fertilizer to the public. Quite a flush fund. Thanks to the denizens of the zoo.
Of course, the Seattle Zoo has quite a marketing angle selling this fertilizer. I mean, who do you know who uses rhino, elephant or giraffe poop for their rose bushes and tomatoes? If you think you have an exotic garden, doesn’t it make sense to use an exotic fertilizer? “Sandy, what did you use on your tomatoes this year.“ Can’t you just see the look on Mary’s face when she’s told about the penguin poop fertilizer.
Detroit and Seattle aren’t the only zoos studying zoop. Kansas, Tennessee and Michigan zoos also are processing manure for local gardeners. What about your local zoo? Tell them there’s moola in them thar hills of dung!
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