Vodka 'saved' elephants in Siberian freeze

BBC News ^ | 14 December 2012

[MinorityRepublican]

Alcohol can lower an elephant's core body temperature

Two elephants have been saved from the deadly Siberian cold by drinking vodka, Russian officials say.

They say the animals had to be taken out into the bitter cold after the wooden trailer they were travelling in caught fire in the Novosibirsk region.

The elephants, aged 45 and 48, suffered frostbite to the tips of their ears amid temperatures of -40C (-40F)

But they were warmed up by two cases of vodka mixed with warm water, one official was quoted as saying.

"They started roaring like if they were in the jungle! Perhaps, they were happy," the official told Russia's Ria Novosti news agency.

The animals continued their recovery in a heated garage of a local college where they were brought by a truck under police escort.

The elephants belong to a Polish circus, which has been touring the region, reports say.

Like with humans, alcohol can make animals feel warmer but it actually lowers their core body temperature, scientists say.

But Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper quoted Novosibirsk zoo director Rostislav Shilo as saying that the elephants were not harmed or intoxicated by the vodka, and that without it they would have died of hypothermia or pneumonia.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I can TESTIFY! Vodka has saved me a time or two along the way! :)

[wonkowasright]

another version reported that they mixed 2.6 gallons of vodka with warm water. anytime your road caravan can produce 2.6 gallons of spare vodka you know its a road trip to remember.

[Cicero]

I don’t know if it saved them or not, but I’ll bet they had a good time.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks MinorityRepublican.

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[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks MinorityRepublican. Another "Mammoth Told Me" topic. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[SunkenCiv]

Whoops, wrong template.

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[left that other site]

I am a bass player.
A very cool cat.
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And I know strings.
I like your Quantum Theory Kitteh!

[SamAdams76]

"scientists" are always offering their wry buzz-killing comments when consumption of alcohol is involved. That is to say, they know deep down inside that moderate, responsible consumption of alcohol is actually beneficial to people's health and well-being, but they never want to go on record as stating that. So instead, they focus on the harm that alcohol can do when it is abused.

If you respect alcohol, it will respect you back.

Same goes for just about anything. Food is beneficial for your health but if you overeat, you become obese, develop diseases like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease - which cause you to die early. Yet nobody is out there telling us to abstain from eating.

I try to respect food also but I have more difficult time with that. I ate half a cherry pie last night and I really need to get outside and take my dog for a long walk to counteract that.