Why Animals At The Nashville Zoo Are Getting In On The Farm-To-Table Trend

A growing movement to provide more nutritious food for animals has a home in Nashville Zoo’s gardens.

Nearly a dozen volunteers work behind a renovated 19th-century home to grow beets, kale, potatoes and beans, along with other produce and herbs.

“We try to make sure that we grow what’s traditional for the historic garden,” Jennifer Cox, a volunteer at the zoo, said.

Much of the food goes to the zoo commissary, where it is turned into meals for rabbits, hares, turtles and other animals. Some herbs are used as aromatics for bears and servals.

The zoo’s herbivores usually eat pellets or produce that are trucked in, and this diet is supplemented with the harvested crops. 

Nashville’s program to develop the garden to feed animals started about eight years ago, and it has recently added a second garden to feed animals that visit schools to teach children about conservation. 

It’s part of a growing movement: Some zoos have developed
hydroponic farming systems or planted crops within the animal’s habitat,
like in Dallas.