Wildlife experts have used Halloween pumpkins to reveal the real-life horror of animal extinction.
New figures show that 20 per cent of all animal species are under threat of dying out, says International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Working with Vienna’s Schoenbrunn Zoo in Austria, they say the number means that over 17,000 different species are threatened with extinction.
To highlight the fears, the zoo put on a display with specially carved pumpkins put out packed with treats for some of their most vulnerable animals.
A video of the display shows Vietnamese sika deer (Cervus nippon pseudaxis) tucking into the treats.
The deer are believed to be extinct in the wild.
And a pair of endangered rhinoceros iguana (Cyclura cornuta) are also seen munching on some of the pumpkins.
Newsflash obtained a statement from Schoenbrunn Zoo in the Austrian capital on Thursday, 27th October, saying: “According to the world conservation organisation IUCN, around 20 per cent of all animal species recorded in their database are threatened with extinction.
“That’s a total of around 17,000 animal species. On the occasion of the upcoming Halloween, some animals at Schoenbrunn Zoo were surprised with creepy pumpkins to draw attention to the global extinction of species. One of these was the Vietnamese sika deer.”
The head of the zoological department, Simone Haderthauer, said: “Sika deer are generally widespread and are not considered threatened.
“The subspecies of the Vietnamese sika deer, which we have been keeping in the zoo since 2017 and which we also breed successfully, has already been exterminated in the wild by humans. Today only a few animals live in protected areas such as in national parks in Vietnam, in zoos and breeding stations.”
The statement added: “The protection of endangered species is one of the core tasks of modern, scientifically run zoos. Schoenbrunn Zoo is actively involved in numerous species protection and reintroduction projects in the wild and is part of around 60 European conservation breeding programmes (EEP).”
And Regina Kramer, Curator for Species Conservation, said: “At Schoenbrunn Zoo alone, around 120 animal species are considered endangered, severely threatened or even extinct in the wild, for example because they were hunted by humans or their habitats were destroyed – including Indian rhinos, African elephants and rhinoceros iguanas.
“Together we want to stop the global extinction of species, which is why the zoo supports the international initiative ‘Reverse the Red’. Every endangered animal species on the Red List should be returned to the green zone.”
