Leftover pumpkins become playthings for animals at Como Zoo

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Ever wonder where leftover pumpkins end up? Some of them went to animals at the Como Zoo Tuesday.

Animals got to smash, play and sniff pumpkins all dauesday and zoo goers got a front row seat.

More than 150 pumpkins were donated to the zoo. This year the big hitters were Trader Joe's and the Arboretum. The zoo has received pumpkin donations for years, but this was the first time it hosted a "Pumpkin Smash" event.  Zoo keepers said it's all part of their animal enrichment.

"They serve a number of different purposes. At the end of the day it's something novel. They don't get pumpkins every day," Como Zoo senior zookeeper and training and enrichment coordinator Jill Erzar said. "Its not part of their diet, especially for a carnivore, it's more a toy or something to roll around sink their teeth or nails into. A way to encourage a natural behavior that they may come across something different to them in their wild environment and we provide that here."

This is the first organized pumpkin smash here at the Como Zoo, but it's not the first time we've seen animals smash them. Zoo keepers tell us they get donations every year, but this year was the first time the zoo has made it into an all day event.

Each hour, different animals will get their orange treat and zoo goers are encouraged to bop around to different enclosures to see the animals play. Pumpkins were placed in every large animal habitat, but some were more into the gourds than others.

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"It's up to them if they want to interact. We saw Zara the tiger lay next to his, who knows why? Didn't even knock them over," Erzar said. "I can never predict what they are going to do other than the ones that will most likely eat them."

Catch animals and their pumpkins until 3 p.m. Tuesday. Check out the hourly schedule here.