‘Doo’ Your Garden a Favor and Scoop Up Zoo Poop

As a nonprofit organization, a Michigan zoo can hardly be blamed for pinching out every last penny it can – especially if the fund-raiser comes with a message about conservation and environmental stewardship.

That’s what the Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek is doing with its annual “Zoo Doo Days” sale, MLive/The Kalamazoo Gazette reports.

A mixture of composted excrement from zebras, antelopes and other exotic non-primate herbivore (plant eater) animals is piled 12 feet high and 30 feet deep, and will be offered to home gardeners for $30 a truckload during Zoo Doo Days, May 29-June 5.

The poop has been turned several times and is from three months to a year old, diminishing the danger of pathogens. Poop from monkeys and carnivores is excluded.

Does this seem a little out there to you?

Master gardener Susan Patterson says on Gardening Know How that the entirely organic compost helps plants retain their moisture and nutrients, while improving the texture of soil.

There are “yards and yards” of poop available, but get there quickly if you want some of the good stuff, advises Jeny Barnett, the zoo’s director of wildlife conservation and education.

“The stuff we have usually does go quickly,” she told the newspaper.