- Title: SPAIN: Madrid Zoo animals beat heat wave with ice pops
- Date: 9th August 2012
- Summary: FAMILIES LOOKING OVER RAILING AT BEARS
- Embargoed: 24th August 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Spain
- City:
- Country: Spain
- Topics:
- Reuters ID: LVA9PTJNR6E07I0HXMI8Y60C58UU
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Animals at the Madrid Zoo cope with the summer heatwave by enjoying regular baths and frozen fruits and popsicles as their handlers work to keep them comfortable.
With temperatures expected to reach between 37 and 44 degrees Celcius this weekend, handlers on Thursday (August 9) threw ice blocks containing frozen fish and fruits into the enclosures to help the animals keep cool in the midst of one of the hottest weeks of the summer.
The General Management of the Civil Protection and Emergency Department of the Interior Ministry, say the rising temperatures are affecting the whole country and animals at Madrid-s zoo are no exception.
While none of the zoo animals are in any immediate danger, animal handler Andres Garcia says that some species need more help to stay comfortable than others.
"During the summer the animals that have the worst time are those which come from cold climates," Garcia told Reuters. "For example the grizzly bears that are behind us. They mitigate the heat with the inside pool and the other they have outside: But recently, because of the extreme heat, we have been giving them part of their diet as frozen. They like the frozen fruit especially when it is this hot."
Some animals, however, really enjoy the hot weather. Seals were darting through their outdoor pool, lazing on the poolside, and playing with ice blocks containing small fish, which they eventually ate.
Marine handler Berta Romero said that the seals have no problem distracting themselves under the hot sun.
"It is a form of playing, of enrichment, so that they can be entertained and interact a little with the environment. We see this seal has an ice block. This ice does not contain any fish, so it is of less interest to her. Some of them contain fish so they move them around and play with the cube of ice until they get their little piece of fish," says Romero.
Among the animals enjoying frozen treats were gibbons and an orangutan. Handlers offered popsicles to the apes, which were received with howls of approval.
Across the park, a rhinoceros enjoyed a cold shower as handlers sprayed it with a hose.
Civil Protection maintains its heatwave alert in Spain and warns of potential further risk of forest fires in some regions of the country.
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