Carving pumpkins has been a classic Halloween tradition for decades.
It involves scraping the insides of the pumpkins out and carving them with a spooky design before placing tealight candles inside. While this activity is fun, a warning has been issued as it could turn deadly.
Many people think it’s a good idea to leave them outside to let the wildlife eat the leftovers. However, this could be causing some serious problems for wild animals such as hedgehogs.
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The Woodlands Trust are now pleading with people to not dump their unwanted pumpkins outside especially in wooded areas – Lancs Live reports. The trust has explained how thousands of tonnes of pumpkins are thrown away each Halloween – and if certain animals manage to get hold of them, it can cause serious problems. Pumpkins may seem like an easy meal for hedgehogs but if they eat a large amount of the pumpkin flesh, it is likely to cause stomach upset and diarrhoea.
At the time when hedgehogs are getting ready for hibernation, this could prove to be deadly for them. The British Hedgehog Preservation Society suggests hanging your pumpkins in trees to allow birds and squirrels to eat the fruit and keep them off the ground so it doesn't encourage hedgehogs to eat them.
If you don't want to do that, the best way to dispose of a pumpkin is in your food waste or compost bin. Alternatively you could bury it well in the soil for the worms to enjoy.
A spokesman for the Woodlands Trust said: "Thousands of tonnes of pumpkin get thrown away in the UK after Halloween each year – and some of those pumpkins sadly get dumped in our woods. Pumpkins can make wildlife such as hedgehogs ill if they eat them.
“Removing dumped, rotting pumpkin waste costs us precious time and money which we could instead be spending on vital conservation work. Plan ahead if you're carving a pumpkin this year – put it in your food waste or compost bin when you're finished, or bury it in your garden for worms and other invertebrates to enjoy.
"For those of us who want to help local wildlife, leaving Halloween pumpkins in the woods as a tasty treat seems like a sustainable way to dispose of them. But they can make hedgehogs and other woodland animals seriously ill and upset the sensitive soils that trees need to grow."
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