News Fruit donations help Hokkaido zoo cope with soaring feed costs

Great to see Japan's "motainai" attitude extended to zoos:

Rising crop prices are now affecting Japan's zoos, where the cost of feeding animals has become harder to manage. At Sapporo's Maruyama Zoo, the burden has been eased thanks to donations from ANA Foods Co., a Tokyo-based food trading firm, and Sunoupuru Sapporo, a local fruit wholesaler.



Since July, the two companies have been supplying bananas, apples and other fruit that could not be sold on the market. Bananas, which are especially popular with the zoo's elephants and monkeys and are eaten at a rate of about 250 kilograms each month, are now provided entirely through these contributions. Unstable harvests caused by poor weather this year have driven up agricultural costs. Fruit for household use is about 20 per cent more expensive than usual, while fruit purchased as animal feed is up by around 10%, putting additional strain on zoo budgets.

The three companies agreed to make use of fruit that would otherwise be discarded or returned to producers due to the removal of products from their packaging during import inspections or not meeting size standards. As part of their food waste reduction efforts, they decided to support the zoo. According to the companies, ANA Foods now provides 250 kg of Vietnamese bananas per month, while Sunoupuru Sapporo supplies 150 kg of Aomori apples, 200 kg of Mikkabi mandarins from Shizuoka Prefecture, and sweet potatoes from Oita Prefecture (with quantities still being adjusted). The fruit is mainly fed to elephants, monkeys and brown bears. All the bananas and two-thirds of the mandarins eaten by the zoo's animals now come from donations.

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