Colorado Springs Parks & Rec: Don’t feed your leftover pumpkins to wildlife

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Now that the calendar has flipped to November, many are ready to put away their Halloween decorations, and while your old pumpkins may seem like the perfect treat for wildlife, Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services says leaving them out for deer and other animals to eat is the last thing you should do.

Properly composting and recycling your old Jack-o'-lantern is key to keeping wildlife safe. According to Colorado Springs Parks and Recreation, feeding sites may bring different kinds of animals into one small area, which can increase the likelihood of disease transmission or parasites.

Human food, including pumpkin, is not a natural food source and does not meet animals' nutritional needs, which can result in poor health conditions or death.

Feeding wildlife also leads to habituation, resulting in animals no longer seeing humans as a threat. Animals will start to think of humans as a food source and become reliant, therefore no longer searching for their own food.

Groups of deer can also attract predators.

“Mountain lions do live nearby, around the edge of the city and in the city a little bit," said Corey Adler, District Wildlife Manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. "Their main prey are mule deer. So if you have a large congregation of mule deer around your neighborhood and around your house, that may attract a predatory mountain lion.”

Plus, under Colorado law, intentionally feeding big game animals is illegal. Those animals include deer, elk, pronghorn, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, mountain lions, and bears.

“If your pumpkin is still out there and all of a sudden you look out and see a deer feeding on it, open your door, yell at it, scare it away, then just take your pumpkin and throw it in the trash.”

If you'd like a more eco-friendly disposal, you can put your pumpkin in a compost bin. But make sure your bin has a lid on it to keep out curious wildlife.