Apparently it’s not only humans who are being affected by the unforgiving heat of Thailand’s “summer,” which officially began on Feb. 21, it’s stressing out animals as well.
Take it from Chalimwut Kasemsomboon, director of Songkhla Zoo, who has come up with a novel way to help his animals beat the heat — hiring a fire truck to hose down the lions and tigers in a manner that resembles natural rain, according to Workpoint.
The big cats will be regularly enjoying those artificial showers during the course of Thailand’s hottest months (March-June), while zoo employees will bring the elephants to play in the pond during the day.
The zoo reportedly allows the pachyderms to take their meals as they frolic in the water as well, something our mother never let us do in the bathtub.
“We’re concerned that the animals will become stressed with how hot it is, so the zoo is trying to help in two ways,” Kasemsomboon told a local TV outlet.
“First, by food, we’re trying to feed the animals cooler foods [like watermelon, coconuts etc.] and de-stress them by making sure they have fun, like throwing the banana into the pond so they search for it a little bit.”
While we’re not so sure how “fun” diving for bananas is, we appreciate the efforts given what a well-known source of heat-related misery our “summer” can be.
And it’s apparently going to be a pretty rough one this year.
The Thai Meteorological Department has already predicted that this summer will be at least a couple degrees hotter than last year. So stay cool, Thailand, and maybe take a page from the elephants’ book and find yourself a pool to eat your lunch in.
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