It’s that time of the year when the air gets chilly, and an eerie feeling sets over the Wildlife SOS centres. Why, you ask? Because every Halloween, our teams ensure that the resident animals take part in the thrilling festival as well! As an annual tradition, the staff come together to create different Halloween enrichments for the animals under our care.
Let’s take a look at how we celebrated Halloween at our centres all over the country!
At the Agra Bear Rescue Facility (ABRF) and the Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre (BBRC), our sloth bears were presented with some amazing jack-o-lantern enrichments. The staff at our centres carved out pumpkins for our resident bears, and these were relished by the ursines.
The veterinarians as well as the caregivers also added honey to the pumpkins, which was sure to lure all our resident sloth bears. The sweet taste of the honey along with the plump pumpkins surely made these more tempting, and hardly frightening!
While the bears were busy enjoying their sweet dish, the large felines were feasting well too! The resident leopards at our Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre (MLRC) celebrated Halloween with their own version of carved pumpkins. These pumpkins were installed across their enclosures, and were stuffed with meat for the extra juicy-ness!
Our caregivers added different hanging enrichments across the leopard enclosures, and this made the entire ‘hunting’ experience immersive for the big cats. Simba and Aditi quickly tracked their enrichments and remained engaged with them for long. The challenge they faced was to pull out the meaty treats that were cleverly hidden inside the pumpkins.
These fun enrichments kept our leopards highly active and energetic. For them to finally extract the treat with excitement made for a rewarding sight!
At our Elephant Hospital Campus (EHC) in Agra, the usual treats for resident elephants looked rather different to them. While they smelled like the good old pumpkin they love, the fruit strangely seemed to have a face too! The jack-o’-lanterns were heartily (and quickly!) consumed by Arya, Zara, Pari and Lakshmi!
The pumpkins, along with other fruits and vegetables, kept the elephants spellbound this Halloween. With delightful trumpets and squeaks, the pachyderms added joy and festivity to the occasion!
This year, we also celebrated the holiday with an endearing animal who managed to charm our team. A recently rescued baby monkey under our care was introduced to chunky pumpkins with funky faces! The tiny macaque explored the pumpkin with so much zest, that he soon became a true part of the fruit — and this year’s celebration!
On the occasion of Halloween, Wildlife SOS also held ‘A Wildly Creepy Art Contest’, calling out all artists to participate to showcase the wild side of their creative imagination. We prompted participants to depict what they thought animals would look like in a Halloween-inspired spooky setting. And we received some amazing, mind-bending entries! Here are the top 3 winners:
The chilling celebrations were a (trick-or) treat to watch, and we would like to wish everyone a very Happy (and haunting) Halloween!
