00:00Aleut and Gregor, two polar bear twin brothers at Prague Zoo in the Czech Republic,
00:07roll in tons of ice to keep themselves cool on scorching summer days.
00:13Zookeepers in Prague came up with the idea as the heat wave sweeps across Europe,
00:18affecting everyone, including animals.
00:21In the first week of July this year, Prague's usually mild summer temperatures soared to 37 degrees Celsius.
00:29That is when Prague Zoo came up with the idea of bringing tons of ice to keep Arctic animals cool.
00:39From last year we have this project which is called Ice Zoo.
00:43And we sometimes, during the days when it's over 30 degrees here in Prague,
00:49put really huge amount of ice into their enclosure.
00:53And when I'm talking about huge amount, it's usually around 3,000 kilograms of ice just for polar bears.
01:00And it's great enrichment for them. It's something new in their enclosure to explore.
01:05So they have water whenever they want to use it. They can swell all the year around.
01:11They have their own ice maker, which makes ice all day long.
01:16Prague Zoo was established in 1931. It has 7,000 animals from 700 species.
01:23On average, 1.4 million people visit Prague Zoo every year.
01:30Filip Maszek, spokesperson at Prague Zoo, says keeping hundreds of animals and visitors cool on scorching days is not easy.
01:40It takes a good weather forecast and a huge workforce to deliver tons of ice every day.
01:47So usually we order 10 tons of ice for one day. Almost half of it goes to the polar bears.
01:54But we also give it to other animals and not just from the Arctic areas.
01:58But we usually tend to choose animals that know snow from their natural habitat.
02:03So we chose the European and American Byzans. We chose the North American authors.
02:08But we have to know it like 2-3 days before because we have to order this huge amount of ice.
02:14Someone has to freeze it, someone has to bring it here and then we have to distribute it.
02:18And that's a job for, you know, 30 people at least.
02:21Despite Prague Zoo's measures to keep animals cool with ice,
02:25many visitors say they are concerned about species from colder regions coping with Europe's scorching heat waves.
02:32I think it must be very difficult for them because they are not accustomed for this kind of weather.
02:39It's about 30 degrees right now. So I was just wondering how they actually cope with this heat.
02:48Amid the sweltering heat wave, people often ask whether keeping Arctic species in zoos is ethical.
02:55But Filip Maszek says having these animals in the Prague Zoo is important to keep them from going extinct.
03:02There is this long tradition of keeping the bears. There is a lot of knowledge also here.
03:08And we really, really need to breed the species because sadly in 2-3 generations the species really can go extinct.
03:15So there is this higher purpose sort of and we are making everything for these animals to feel comfortable.
03:21Filip, Anita and the Prague Zoo visitors hope that the weather across Europe improves and makes it easier,
03:29not just for them, but also for the animals, especially for polar bears.
03:34For now, a lieutenant Gregor can roll and lounge around in tons of eyes as visitors catch a rare glimpse of the vulnerable species.
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