Vodka is a lifesaver. Circus trainers claim that two elephants were saved from the cold by drinking vodka.
The BBC reports that the 48 and 45-year-old elephants were movied out into the cold after their wooden trailer burned down in a fire. However they started to develop frostbite on their ears as temperatures in the Siberian Novosibirsk region dipped to 40 degrees below zero. They were waiting for another truck to arive to transport the elephants to a warm gym at a local college.
In order to save the elephants, they were given two cases, or 10 liters of vodka mixed with warm water.
"They started roaring like if they were in the jungle! Perhaps, they were happy," the official told Russia's Ria Novosti news agency, according to the BBC.
The elephants were eventually transported to the college where they are recovering in the heated gym.
Alcohol affects elephants as it affects humans in that it may make the elephants feel warmer, but it actually lowers their core body temperature.
However Novosibisk zoo director Rostislav Shilo believes that vodka saved the animals from frostbite and pneumonia, but it didn't get them drunk.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
