The Woodland Trust has posted a video on its social media channels detailing the impact pumpkins can have on wildlife.
In it, Trevor Weeks, founder of the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service, says Halloween coincides with the time hedgehogs are looking to fatten themselves up for hibernation.
Pumpkins give them diarrhoea – they lose weight, dehydrate and “will struggle to survive hibernation”, he said.
The Woodland Trust has suggested pumpkins should instead be used as autumnal bird feeders, composted at home, or donated to zoos or farms for animal feed.
Read the full story on the BBC website here