Seattle Press on Line - Eagerly Awaited Spring Batch of Zoo Doo Clopyralid Free

Eagerly Awaited Spring Batch of Zoo Doo Clopyralid Free

By Laurel Holliday

Feb 28, 2002 -- Billed as "the richest and most exotic compost in the Pacific Northwest," the spring batch of Zoo Doo is almost ready for eager gardeners to pick up at Woodland Park Zoo.

"We have a bumper crop--at least 300 cubic yards," says Dan Shepard, the zoo's compost coordinator. "It's been a banner year."

Even so, you Zoo Doo aficionados will have to enter a drawing to win the privilege of buying, shoveling, and hauling away the multi-species feces. You have until March 15 to mail in a postcard with your name, day/evening phone numbers, the amount of Zoo Doo you want, and whether you'd prefer to retrieve the prized product on a weekday or a weekend. Prices range from $50 for a full-size pickup load to $3 for a small garbage bag full. For full details of the drawing and pick-up arrangements, call 206-625-POOP.

Recently, concerns have have arisen about the safety of Zoo Doo because clopyralid, an extremely potent herbicide, has been found in other locally produced compost. The herbicide, manufactured by Dow Chemical, kills vegetables in the nightshade family, including beans, peas, tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers.

Dan Shepard wants to assure gardeners that Woodland Park's Zoo Doo has undergone rigorous bioassay tests and environmental laboratory testing. He says that Severn Trent Services, a national environmental testing service with a laboratory located in Fife, has certified that no clopyralid has been detected in the samples.

Zoo Brew, a compost tea sold in gallon jugs in the Zoo Store, has not, itself, been tested for clopyralid. But Shepard says the compost from which it was made has been tested, and it, too, is free of the destructive herbicide.

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