Giraffes at the Franklin Park Zoo get a bite to eat amid the baking heat on Tuesday. Photo: James Rojas/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Animals at the Franklin Park Zoo are baking in this heat just like the rest of the city.
"Running a zoo, you live and die by the weather, so it's something that everybody pays really close attention to," said John Linehan, President of the non-profit Zoo New England, which runs the zoo.
Luckily for the animals, zoo keepers had a plan in mind — frozen treats.
"We have sweet potatoes, carrots celery...sometimes some have apples as well," said caretaker Becky. But there are stranger treats for those animals whose tastes aren't exactly human.
For the carnivores, "we actually freeze blood and give them 'bloodsicles'...it's not popular on the ice cream truck," said Linehan. Other animals, like goats, licked at a block of ice with vegetables inside.
Linehan pointed out that the animals' origins — even the desert or hot grasslands of Africa — didn't necessarily mean they liked the weather. He said the animals, like many humans, would be less active during the heat wave.
WBZ's James Rojas (@JamesRojas) reports:
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