Elephant Poo popular in York

York is famous for many things, such as its Roman Walls and the Jorvick
Viking Centre.

But now the area has also been revealed to be the biggest buyer of elephant
and rhino poo.

The odd statistic has been revealed by ShinyShack.com, who sells both as
part of its range of unusual gift ideas.

Elephant Poo In A Box is sold as a novelty item for growing an angel rose,
while Rhino Poo in a Box allows the owner to grow a banana plant.

Both use treated waste supplied by UK safari parks and zoos, to make them
germ-free and odourless, without damaging the nutrients.

However, after an audit of their online sales in preparation for Christmas,
managing director Tamer Shafik noticed that the elephant poo boxes sold
twice as well in the York post code area as anywhere else in the UK.

"It's naturally a surprise that any single area should see such strong
sales over any other, but as we were looking through our product sales to
date, we noticed this very clear spike in sales of Elephant Poo in a box
associated with YO post codes.

"It is a popular product, because it has such a surprise factor. It's among
the sort of quirky gifts no one expects, but because of its good nature,
it's unlikely to offend. The surprise for us is that it is so popular in any
specific area."

ShinyShack reports that to date just over 15% of its boxes of elephant and
rhino poo shipped to York.

"We're hoping to extend that over the Christmas and New Year period."

Swindon and Portsmouth were both the next popular destinations for poo in a
box, with these areas buying in 8% and 7% of all poo sales respectively.