Royal Navy sailors have donated more than 600 metres of old fire hoses to help two animal charities in Cornwall.

The old kit from the airfield at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose was handed over to Newquay Zoo and the Cornish Seal Sanctuary at Gweek on Wednesday, October 27th.

Rather than being thrown into landfill, the rubber hoses can be reused and shredded into hard-wearing material for bedding or toys. In the seal sanctuary, strips of rubber are attached to floats to hang in the water like seaweed.

It was personnel at the Royal Naval School of Flight Deck Operations that came up with the idea. The school trains all the navy's aircraft handlers how to operate on flight decks, including emergency rescue and firefighting.

Able rate Emma Tatnell said:

"I often think that we sign up to protect the nation, but we also need to protect the environment as well. I heard about zoos using old rubber hoses and thought it would be a brilliant way to recycle our old hoses that are no longer usable, rather than see them go into landfill.

"I've seen how they can use them for bedding or making into rubber balls or for climbing. It's also great to help these charities save a little money – which are local to us in Cornwall and must have faced a tough time through the pandemic. They were both delighted at our donations."

Click here to see more from RNAS Culdrose.

Carry on the conversation on our Twitter and Facebook pages. [.B]