Do NOT Toss Your Old Halloween Pumpkins in the Woods!!

You may have seem a meme going around promoting the idea that tossing your old pumpkins into the woods for animals to eat is the best way to dispose of them.

It seemed rather odd to me that this would be a preferred method of gourd disposal. After all, we’ve all been taught to NOT feed wild animals. So…I went to the experts! I asked the Will County Forest Preserve District about the meme in question and if the practice is something to consider, or to ignore.

The Will County Forest Preserve District has actually written about this very thing!

 

In addition to keeping the pumpkins out of landfills, the Forest Preserve’s Pumpkin Smash event also serves as an alternative to dumping pumpkins in nature, which some people think is a good idea – but it isn’t.

Dumping pumpkins or any type of food in the preserves can harm wildlife and it’s also illegal. The Forest Preserve’s General Use Ordinance No. 124 (Opens in a new window) prohibits the feeding of wildlife and it also bans anyone from depositing “trash, rubbish, paper, garbage, refuse, debris, or junk” in the preserves (which would include food refuse) as well as seeds (including pumpkin seeds) from an outside source. Those who violate this rule could be ticketed.

Discarded pumpkins bring animals together and can spread disease among species as well as creates a reliance on human-introduced food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Opens in a new window).  Also, feeding animals also brings them closer to roads and could lead to accidents.

The Cook County Forest Preserve has a similar message.

Instead of tossing pumpkins in the woods, there are many pumpkin disposal events around the area!

For something close to you, just google your county and “pumpkin disposal.” You can also check the SCARCE website and enter your zip code for pumpkin disposal events in your neck of the woods.

Want more info on why you shouldn’t just toss your pumpkins in the trash? SCARCE did a great explainer!