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Caldwell Zoo working to protect their animals from the heat

Tyler, TX — The dog days of summer are upon us, but the dogs aren't the only ones feeling the heat.

Summertime in East Texas has air so thick, you feel like you can cut it with a knife.

Finding relief can be a chore for you, your kids, your pets, but what about another group... Zoo animals?

But that heat, is something the animal's keepers take in stride as they work to not only provide their normal duties, but the additional work required to make sure the animals don't get heat stroke.

Many of the animals have instinctual behaviors to help keep themselves cool.

"The elephants, they'll flap their ears a little bit," Mammal curator, Scotty Stainback said. Other animals will, "seek shade, they'll get in the water, some of them pant... they'll sprawl out on the ground."

The caretakers at the Caldwell Zoo also work to help provide them with relief.

"We have a few protocols in place to help keep our animals cool and comfortable," Stainback said. "Once the temperatures get above 95 we give most of the mammals access back to their barns."

Jesse Santee is a keeper at the zoo. His role, to take care of the elephants, rhinos, giraffes, and cheetahs.

"The rhinos and elephants; they have some water features actually that we can use for them like hoses, give them baths, and we also make really, really big ice treats for them like frozen watermelons," Santee said.

Nikki Hartman, who is in charge of the bird department explains what they do for the birds, "we do things such as adding shade cloth over exhibit tops, sometimes if you visit the zoo you might see ice floating in their water features. Frozen fruit and veggies."

Those treats and the easy access to water have drawn in a few guests. A Heron has adopted one of the bird exhibits in the zoo, even partaking in the cool treats the birds receive.

While the Zookeepers and caretakers are working additional duties to keep the animals cool, that's actually on top of the normal duties they have to carry out.

Things like feeding the animals, cleaning up after the animals, monitoring their health, breeding programs, animals coming in, animals going out, etc.

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