Elephant Sanctuary In Tennessee Is Accepting Christmas Tree Donations To Feed Hungry Elephants

Dec 12, 2019

Taking down the Christmas decorations and disposing of the Christmas tree is everyone’s least favorite part of the holiday season. While boxing up the ornaments is simple enough, trying to find a place to put the discarded live tree can be a bit more difficult.

Many people struggle with their options, unsure is they should toss it out for the trash people to grab or rev up a bonfire. The options are so scarce that it leads many people to turn to an artificial tree for ease of storage alone! Thankfully, a new organization has found a way to help you get rid of your Christmas tree while feeding the elephants.

That’s right, operation “Christmas Tree Drive” is now in full swing at the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. They use the old live trees to provide the animals with additional food. To help make the project a success, the employees are asking people to donate their trees after the Christmas season is over.

On the sanctuary’s website, they explain that the project is necessary because, as the largest land animals in the world, elephants also have some of the largest appetites. Elephants eat around 150 pounds of food each day, and Christmas trees can help to add to their large meals.

The program is generally open to collect trees from December 26 through January 2nd, although the specifics haven’t been released for this year. Last year, the sanctuary reports that those within Middle Tennessee and North Alabama made the trek to the drop off locations to deliver their trees and learn more about the elephants themselves.

While it would be great fun to actually see your Christmas tree be eaten by an elephant, this isn’t the case. The trees have to be dropped off at specific spots where they will then be transported to the sanctuary. As of now, the habitats are not open to the public.

The program continues to grow with each passing year, and we can only hope that the sanctuary will receive more trees this year than ever before!

Not only does this program help the elephants by supplementing their diet during the winter months, but it is also an environmentally friendly option that helps keep landfills from being expanded with additional waste.

Will you be donating your tree to the elephant sanctuary? If you aren’t able to participate in this project, let us hear your creative ways to help the environment this holiday season!