Detroit Zoo Repeats 'Smashing Pumpkins' Event

Last week’s “Smashing Pumpkins” enrichment event at the Detroit Zoo was such a – wait for it – smashing good time that the zoo will repeat the treat this Saturday, Oct. 25.

From10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., the animals will receive pumpkins filled with tasty treats to eat, play with, roll around in, tear apart and smash.

Each year around Halloween, Zoo staff provide the animals with seasonal munchies – including pumpkins, gourds, cornstalks and other fall harvest goodies – as part of its comprehensive program of ensuring environments for animals that are ever-changing and appropriately complex.

All year round, food items are hidden throughout the animals’ habitats or prepared and placed in a unique manner to stimulate natural behaviors such as foraging or stalking. “Around Halloween, seasonal fare from local Michigan producers gives this activity a special appeal for both Zoo visitors and the animals,” said Scott Carter, chief life sciences officer at the Detroit Zoo.

Schedule:
• 10:30 a.m. – great apes (treat-filled pumpkins)
• 11 a.m. – snow monkeys (Halloween ice treats)
• 11:30 a.m. – polar bears (pumpkins)
• Noon – grizzly bears (pumpkins)
• 12:30 p.m. – wolverines (piñata, pumpkins)
• 1 p.m. – anteaters (Halloween treats)
• 1:30 p.m. – vultures (treat-filled pumpkins)
• 2 p.m. – river otters (Halloween ice treats)

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Photo via Detroit Zoo Facebook page. Click here for more great photos.