SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – The Rosamond Gifford Zoo is accepting pumpkin donations this week for their Squishing of the Squash event on Nov. 6. Hundreds of thousands of pumpkins are grown each year for the fall season, and while most people just throw their pumpkins away, Rosamond Gifford Zoo is offering a way to reduce this waste.
“We need to enrich our animals, “Executive Director of the Friends of Rosamond Gifford Zoo Carie Large said. “We need to make them have the challenges of finding the food, playing with the food, and truly enjoying themselves.”
The choice of pumpkin was also not by chance, pumpkin is an aid in the animal’s digestive tract and can even act as a natural dewormer for the wildlife. The pumpkins for this event are mainly donated by residents, but the Zoo has also asked local farms as well.
Due to a bad season of weather that led to crop rot in the fields, the owner of Pumpkin Hollows Louise Cox said that this year they weren’t able to provide any donations, but “a few years ago they came and took everything they could find.”
The Squishing of the Squash will happen from 10-3 pm on Nov. 6 and the Zoo will be accepting donations up until then. Large says it’s important for the animals to use all five senses, and this encourages that and goes along with their message, “one health, one mission, that nothing goes to waste here as much as possible.”
Including a new sustainable cafe coming later this year. If there is no shot in donating to Rosamond Gifford zoo, try to call up your local farm and see if they’re taking donations. Otherwise, go out to a wooded area or field, break up your pumpkins and leave them for the wildlife to eat.
