Illinois zoo animals get pumpkins for Halloween

Brookfield Zoo animals got an early Halloween treat this week. Sulcata tortoises, goats, PJ, a prehensile-tailed porcupine; and Hani and Kartik, the zoo's two sloth bears all seemed to enjoy their pumpkins. Pumpkins given to Brutus and Titus, the zoo's African lions, were filled with bones and meat.

As part of the Chicago Zoological Society's Center for the Science of Animal Welfare, staffs are always thinking of ways to physically and mentally stimulate the animals at Brookfield Zoo. One way is by providing them with enrichment items they normally do not receive on a regular basis, including pumpkins.