Bloodpops, water games keep zoo animals cool in summer

SALT LAKE CITY — To keep cool in the summer, the beasts at Hogle Zoo munch on icy treats — such as a blood pop, fruitsicle or spice-infused ice.

Then there are the wading pools, rain barrel showers, water games, mister systems and wet burlap bags — all cooling methods Hogle Zoo employs when summer temperatures creep closer to the triple digits.

"There are so many variations on the ice pop, I couldn't even begin to tell you," said Dawn Neptune, the zoo's behavioral programs coordinator.

Depending on the animal's size, zookeepers use recycled ice cream buckets, yogurt containers or trash cans to create a popsicle flavor you won't find in the grocery store.

As 1-year-old tiger Bronevik is let into his enclosure at the zoo's Asian Highlands Thursday, he immediately darts towards a deep red popsicle, recognizing the scent of blood. His mother Basha is a little gentler with hers, cradling it in her paws and delicately licking it.

"Look! They have popsicles!" a kid yells in excitement while his mother cringes. The tigers are licking frozen horse blood.

Carnivores are also given mousicles or ratsicles, frozen rodents, often with the tail poking out. Sometimes the keepers will add feathers to the carnivore's pop, imitating the kind of snack the beasts would chase in the wild.

The herbivores are given smaller popsicles filled with grasses, spices or produce.

Neptune recalls a keeper who famously created a colorful multi-tiered fruit pop in a 50-gallon trash can for the elephants. The zoo's adult female elephants Christie and Dari destroy those in seconds, smashing the popsicles with their feet.

Popsicles aren't the only relief from the heat. One-year-old elephant Zuri will roll in the mud, ape Tino will drape a frozen burlap bag over his head and the Siamese crocodiles will let the water hose spray into their mouths.

"They enjoy the cooling effect," said Neptune. The new toys — things such as frozen water bottles, snow hauled in from the canyons or water-cooled hammocks — are part of the animals' enrichment options. "That's the whole basis of my job, stimulating natural behaviors. They need some sort of novelty with a challenge to process, especially the young ones. We do it with all the animals, from the insects to the elephants."

Zoos across the country keep an extra watchful eye on the animals in the summertime, looking for signs of heat stroke or heat exhaustion.