Shared old zoo post goes viral

An Irene resident's call for tree branches in her WhatsApp group for the Pretoria Zoo, the National Zoological Gardens, accidentally went viral overnight and had residents from as far as the borders of Botswana reaching out to help.

- Marizka Coetzer

Marita Schutte said she received calls from Potchefstroom to Dwaalboom, on the border with Botswana.

“It’s great to see how many people actually cared,” she said.

Schutte said she shared an old post on the group to ask neighbours for branches for the zoo after a neighbour’s post on social media had gone viral.

“I used a previous message from the zoo to show what type of trees they were looking for.

“Unfortunately, this message went viral and even flyers were made and broadcast, bringing people under the misconception that there is a food shortage at the zoo,” she said.