People warned against dangerous ‘pumpkin dumping’ this Halloween

The UK’s largest woodland conservation charity has spotted trend of Halloween pumpkins to be taken to the nearest wood and left.

“A myth seems to have built up that leaving pumpkins in woods helps wildlife. People think they’re doing a good thing by not binning them in landfill and instead leaving them for nature” explained Paul Bunton, Engagement and Communication Officer at Woodland Trust.

“But pumpkin flesh can be dangerous for hedgehogs, attracts colonies of rats and also has a really detrimental effect on woodland soils, plants and fungi. We can’t leave dumped pumpkins to rot so we end up with an orange mushy mess to deal with at many of our sites.”

Trevor Weeks from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service echoed the Trust’s concern over the risk to hedgehogs because, like other wildlife “they are opportunistic eaters and they spend autumn and early winter building up their fat reserves for hibernation”.

“As a result, hedgehogs can gorge themselves on easily available food like dumped pumpkins,” Weeks added. “Although not toxic to them the fleshy fibrous fruit can cause stomach upsets and diarrhoea as they are not designed to eat large quantities of fruit.

“This can lead to them becoming bloated and dangerously dehydrated which in turn can be fatal. At this time of year, they can’t afford to become ill, or they may not survive the winter hibernation.”

According to the Trust, the pumpkin problem starts earlier and earlier each year, with cheap pumpkins for sale in supermarkets and pumpkin-picking growing in popularity.

Paul continued: “Thousands of tonnes of pumpkin gets thrown away in the UK after Halloween each year, so it would be great if we could all put that to better use.”

He added: “Jack-o-lanterns can be good for wildlife in small quantities in gardens, but not woodland or other countryside. We are urging people everywhere to make soup, make a birdfeeder for your garden, but please don’t make a mess of the countryside!”