More vegetables and fruits, and less meat than usual have been
fed to animals in the Beijing Zoo to help them cope with the early
arrival of summer heat this year.
Since May 1, the zoo has been also using over
400 kg of ice
cubes daily to cool the animals, Ye Mingxia, media officer of the
zoo, told Xinhua on Thursday.
"In the past, we don't feel this hot until middle June or early
July, but in recent years, the hot days have come earlier and we
have to take measures to cool the animals earlier too," Ye
said.
Since earlier this week, the zoo has adjusted diet of animals
and over 500 kilograms of vegetables and fruit are consumed daily,
three times that of the usual.
For cuddly pandas, air conditions have been turned on. And
carnassial tigers are treated with cool water poured on the ground
of their residence each hour of the day time.
Every year, the Beijing Zoo spends over 1 million yuan
(US$131,000) to prevent animals from sunstroke, Ye said.
"No animal has suffered sunstroke this year" she said.
Statistics from Beijing Municipal Meteorological observatory
showed Beijing's summer came around middle May this year, a half
month earlier than usual. As early as May 3, Beijing temperature
has exceeded 31 Celsius degrees.
(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2007)
