Chicken wings provide rare treat for big cats at Manchester zoo

Hold the hot sauce and blue cheese, the big cats at the Cricket Hollow Zoo in Manchester like their chicken wings raw.

The zoo has scored about 41,000 pounds of frozen wings from a distributor that almost threw them out.

The wings, originally from the former Agriprocessors plant in Postville, couldn't be sold but were still OK for animal consumption. Iowa Waste Exchange kept the chicken out of the landfill and offered them to the zoo.

Exchange spokesman Ben Kvigne says it's his job to find ways to save byproducts and scrap materials from going into the ground, but 20 tons of chicken wings is a new one.

Zoo owner Pam Sellner says her lions, tigers, cougars and other cats are enjoying the wings, but they are sharing with other Iowa zoos and animal sanctuaries.