Alpacas and llamas have enjoyed a late festive feast - after their owners treated them to recycled Christmas trees.<br /><br />Mary Harvey, 68, has revealed that her three llamas and six alpacas 'love' to much on the festive trees.<br /><br />One tree lasts about a week, but this year they have been given 40 trees by volunteers - which will last the animals a whopping four months.<br /><br />Christmas trees - which are usually pine, spruce or fir - are a source of vitamin C and antioxidants, making them great dietary supplements for both alpacas and llamas.<br /><br />Adorable photos show her animals happily eating a Christmas tree while another image shows Mary feeding them cucumber.<br /><br />The charity owner said the animals like to graze on hedgerows, but there isn’t much available in winter, so Christmas trees provide a tasty and long-lasting alternative.<br /><br />Mary, of Tregaswith, Cornwall, said: "I think it's a good snack to them and it tastes different to the other leaves they would normally get from the hedgerow.<br /><br />"They are spikey so I'm surprised they like to eat them because Christmas trees are so spikey but they don't seem phased by it at all.<br /><br />"I only started feeding them the trees around two years ago. <br /><br />"We've had alpacas for 17 years but I didn't realise until two years ago that they like Christmas trees. <br /><br />"It's been ideal because they eat from the hedgerows and they are bare at the moment.<br /><br />"It supplements their feed."<br /><br />Mary runs Chy Lowen Alpacas Tregaswith (CHAT), a non-profit organisation that's dedicated to helping children and young adults using animal-assisted intervention.
