Christmas trees become animal toys at Keystone Safari
If you get a real Christmas tree, there's always the conversation afterward about what to do with it. At a couple spots in Western Pennsylvania, you can give that tree as a gift for animals.

GROVE CITY, Pa. - If you get a real Christmas tree, there's always the conversation afterward about what to do with it. At a couple spots in Western Pennsylvania, you can give that tree as a gift for animals.
A couple weeks ago, this tree was in someone's living room. Now it's a new toy for a reindeer.
"I don't think most people realize that you can recycle trees in this way," said Krystle MacLean, the office manager at Keystone Safari in Grove City.
They've been doing it for years at Living Treasures in New Castle and now Keystone Safari is taking old Christmas trees as well, giving all sorts of animals a special treat.
"It's something new, it's something exciting. It's like little kids opening that new present on Christmas day and that's all they want to play with," said MacLean. "The majority of animals like you see with the reindeer use them more as toys, an interesting object; something different to play with, to smell, to destroy. Some smaller animals, rodents like the prairie dogs that are at Living Treasures in New Castle, they will eat them and they do a lot of work even in a few hours."
So if you still have a Christmas tree, they will take as many as you can get. All you have to do it go in through the main entrance and drop it off in the parking lot on the side closest to the road.
"You do have to be careful, though. If you know that your tree's been treated with some type of chemical or fireproofing or preservative, we can't take those trees just because those could be dangerous to the animals who are eating them or playing with them," said MacLean.
There's no such thing as too many trees at a place like this. Even if they don't need all of them for the animals to play with, they can still take the rest and make them into mulch; helping the animals in a different way.
Sunday, January 6th is Keystone Safari's final day open for the season. Gates are open from 12 pm-9 pm.