CRAPPY JOB: Tim Husband with Nasri the elephant and some of the paper made from elephant 'deposits'. The park is recycling poo to make paper for a variety of products including the parks brochures. Picture: Brian Cassey
ELEPHANT poo paper is the brainchild of a push to save nearly 30 giant beasts on death row in Bali.
Former Cairns zookeeper Tim Husband heads the project in Indonesia turning hundreds of tonnes of highly-fibrous elephant dung into paper, the Courier-Mail reported.Most of the 33 elephants at Bali's Safari and Marine Park had to be rescued at the behest of the Government after they were slated for slaughter.
Under the scheme, villagers are employed to cut the grass for the elephants and collect their poo.
"One elephant eats about 180kg of grass every day," said Mr Husband, curator at the park, 40 minutes out of Kuta. "And it produces 100kg of dung a day."
Mr Husband said the pachyderm poo paper was proving to be a big hit with tourists. "This is a way of making work at both ends of the elephant for villagers. And it makes a novel gift for visitors," he said.
One pile of dung makes about 15 sheets of high-quality hand-made paper.
"It is a s---ty job but someone has got to do it," said Mr Husband.
"It saves trees, saves the elephants, and helps the locals."
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