By james art 
TOPEKA (KSNT) — Not sure what to do with your leftover pumpkins? Try taking them to the Topeka Zoo and Conservation Center.
Topekans with uncarved pumpkins can go to the zoo after Halloween is over. Pumpkins can be used to provide food and enrichment for local animals.
People can also use pumpkins that have gone old and mushy by placing them in compost bins or by feeding them to farm animals. Chickens can make use of your leftover pumpkins, saving you the trouble of throwing them away.
“They make really good enrichment for the chickens, so you can put their food inside the pumpkin, or they’ll even just sit there and look up into the pumpkin itself, and if you’ve looked after them, it can carve into a really fun , an additional ghostly form,” said Hunter Mangel of the Topeka Zoo.
Pumpkins can generate methane gas if left in landfills, which can be harmful to the environment. Experts recommend cutting the pumpkins into pieces, then burying them in the ground to help the environment.
You can find the Topeka Zoo and Conservation Center at 635 Southwest Gage Boulevard. For more information about the zoo and its hours of operation, go to its website.
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