Weston Favell shopping centre is donating trees from their spectacular Enchanted Forest Grotto to Woburn Safari Park.
All of the cut trees that featured in the centre’s Christmas centrepiece will now be chipped and turned into bedding for rhinos at the popular safari park.
The grotto, which consisted of 120 real life fir trees and believed to be the first live forest created in an indoor shopping centre, closed its doors on Christmas Eve. Now Santa and his elves have returned back to the North Pole, it’s time for the Norway Spruce fir trees to be recycled and used for a good cause.
The trees are being chipped by a local tree services and landscaping company, Mulberry Tree, who will be visiting the centre this Thursday 11th January to help deliver the chippings to Woburn. The remaining wood chip will be delivered on Sunday by a local scouts group visiting the rhinos at the safari park, courtesy of the shopping centre.
Chris Smart, Head Keeper in Reserves said, “The chippings will be used to make a fragrant and skin-friendly bedding material for our Southern white rhino herd. The animals will no doubt enjoy this change from their usual straw bedding, as the pine will provide an interesting aroma, and it is also known for its benefits as a natural disinfectant. We have three females and two males living in a secure house at Woburn Safari Park; weighing in at nearly a ton each, they get through plenty of bedding materials, so this donation from Weston Favell shopping centre is very much appreciated.”
The remaining trees featuring in the Enchanted Forest Grotto have been offered to the local community. Nearly 400 people have now applied to get their hands on one and keep a bit of Christmas magic with them all year round.
Kevin Legg, Weston Favell Centre Manager said, “We take our role of being an integral part of the local community seriously and wanted to ensure that the fir trees from our hugely successful grotto were put to good use. The opportunity to help the rhino at Woburn Safari Park was too good to miss."
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