Hunter Valley wildlife park helping animals stay cool

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Hunter Region is experiencing heatwave conditions like many parts of New South Wales today. Local wildlife parks are taking precautions to help animals stay cool in the heat.

Transcript

00:00 It's dry, there's a warm breeze and it's almost hit 40 degrees here in the Hunter Valley.

00:07 For many people they'll stay inside in the air conditioning or take a dip in the pool

00:11 or at the beach today, but that's not the case for the animals here at the Hunter Valley

00:15 Wildlife Park.

00:17 Now the animals that are here, the lions, the giraffes, the spider monkeys, the kangaroos,

00:22 they're all picked specifically so they can cope with the weather here in the Hunter Valley.

00:26 So they are used to a hot day, but the keepers here do make sure they get a few extra things

00:31 on days like today to make sure they stay cool and comfortable.

00:35 What we can do is just try to drop the temperature a little bit.

00:39 So obviously using things like sprinklers like you can see now and then adding interactive

00:44 food items that will hopefully cool them down.

00:46 Not far from here is the Hunter Valley Vineyards and grape picking is underway for the current

00:51 vintage.

00:52 The grape pickers were out early this morning to avoid the heat and we're going to be knocking

00:56 off before lunchtime, before that 40 degree temperature does hit.

01:01 Now Hunter Health officials are warning people to try and stay cool so they can avoid heat

01:07 exhaustion or heat stroke.

01:08 So the warnings are make sure you drink plenty of water, limit the amount of caffeine and

01:13 alcohol you might be drinking today and stay in a cool place.

01:18 If you don't have air conditioning at home, head to your local shops or the library where

01:22 you can try and stay cool.

01:24 Now some of the symptoms to look out for if you are out in the heat today, you might have

01:29 a bit of a headache, you might be feeling a little bit dizzy or very thirsty.

01:33 Those are the early signs of heat exhaustion so try and stay on top of those.

01:38 Now as for the animals here, I'm sure they'll be staying under the shade of a tree and looking

01:43 out for the keepers today when they drop in an ice block to keep them cool.

01:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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