Zoo creates ornaments from reindeer dung
BLOOMINGTON -- If you're looking for some truly unique Christmas ornaments this holiday season, you might consider getting in touch with the folks at the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington.
They've been making decorations out of droppings from their two reindeer, Ealu and Rika.
The dung is dried, then clear-coated and either painted or rolled in glitter.
Zoo marketing director Susie Ohley has named them "magical reindeer gem ornaments," and each comes with a label of authenticity. They cost $5 at the zoo gift shop.
The idea for the ornaments came indirectly from a story zoo director John Tobias heard about his Irish grandmother. It seems that back in the early 1900s, his grandmother would take chocolate drops and sprinkle them around so the children in the family would think that reindeer had really visited.
That memory, and talk about stringing cranberries and popcorn, led Ohley to think of using the innocuous dy pellets in Christmas ornaments for a fundraiser.
Katie Buydos of the zoo support staff, who makes jewelry as a hobby, donated wire and beads for the project, saying, "Susie asked me to bring some creativity to the table."
Early in November, Buydos, Ohley and parks employee Abby Fitzpatrick gathered at Ohley's house to create the ornaments.
"Each one is unique they are each a work of art," said Ohley.
People appear surprised by the size of the droppings.
"Reindeer are so big," said zoo maintenance worker Sheldon Williams, but their droppings are "just a big pile of small."