Woodland Park Zoo selling the ‘most exotic compost’ for gardeners

Woodland Park Zoo is selling the “most exotic compost available in the Pacific Northwest” from the zoo’s animal manure.

The “Zoo Doo” is made out of animal feces from the zoo’s non-primate herbivores like tapirs, pudus, mountain goats, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, zebras, and more. It also contains bedding material from the animal’s enclosures.

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The manure is left at the zoo’s composting yard, where it cures and becomes mulch rich in nutrients for home gardens.

The active composting phase lasts 30 days, and the piles maintain temperatures between 135°F and 160°F, which allows for the optimal decomposition of organic materials as well as destroying weed seeds and potential pathogens.

“Zoo Doo is a great way to garden clean and healthy for the benefit of pollinators and other local wildlife and is a sustainable green choice,” said the zoo in a news release. “The compost is so extraordinary that the zoo’s horticulture experts also use it throughout the zoo in its award-winning animal habitats and other landscaped areas.”

Woodland Park Zoo composts approximately 500 tons of this animal waste each year—saving around $125,000 per year in disposal costs. Woodland Park Zoo has been giving out Zoo Doo for almost 40 years.

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Bulk Zoo Doo is available for pickup at the zoo on Saturday and Sunday, March 18 and 19, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The prices are:

• 25 gallons – $15
• 50 gallons – $30
• 70 gallons – $40
• 100 gallons – $50
• Small truck (300 gallons) – $80
• Medium truck (400 gallons) – $100
• Large truck (550 gallons) – $120

Limited supplies of Zoo Doo or Worm Doo are available year-round in 1-pint containers at the zoo’s ZooStores.

• 1-pint Zoo Doo – $6.95
• 1 pint Worm Doo – $10

Upcoming sales will be announced by the zoo and will be held in April, May, June, and July.