South coast garden trimmings are helping to feed giraffes and rhinos at Monarto Safari Park.

The City of Victor Harbor has been working with Monarto Safari Park since late 2020 to supply useful cuttings of acacia that can be recycled as animal feed.

Acacia that grows in some of Victor Harbor’s local parks and reserves; some species are invasive, so council staff often remove them.

Staff from Monarto Safari Park regularly collect the trimmings that make great animal feed and transport them back to the park.

The council maintains more than 300 parks, gardens and reserves within the City of Victor Harbor, meaning it collects a significant amount of garden waste.

The giraffes and black rhinos especially appreciate acacia trimmings.

Monarto Safari Park has also partnered with local volunteer groups like CoastCare and Friends of the Hindmarsh River and other councils to collect garden trimmings.

For residents who may have useful garden cuttings, Monarto Safari Park provides a free pruning service to residential properties that have healthy species of trees with no traces of poison. 

This includes willow, ash, elm, hibiscus, mirror bush, lucerne, carob, ficus, guava, acacia, she oak, poplar, and honey locust trees.

All trees must have good foliage and branches between 1m to 3m. Residents can contact Cris from Monarto Safari Park by email for more information about this service.

Image by _Alicja_ from Pixabay