Temperatures Are Hot in Baghdad, and Zookeepers Are Cooling Their Animals with TLC

At the Baghdad Zoo, animals are finding relief from the extreme heat in many fun-filled ways!

Zookeepers are doing their best to make life comfortable for every one of the animals, big or small.

For bears, there are frozen fish to munch that fill up their stomach while refreshing them.

For the Siberian tigers, the big cats find delight in their specially designed pool where they can frolic as much as they want.

Meanwhile, a makeshift sprinkler system makes it possible for horses, monkeys, and other animals to splash around and have fun.

Others are fond of being hosed down with refreshing water, reminiscent of rain showers.

The Baghdad Zoo was once the biggest zoo in the Middle East, with more than a million visitors. But after the US invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam Hussein, it suffered a lull and disrepair.

There were even heroic efforts to save the zoo animals, as chronicled by Brendan Whittington-Jones in his book, The Accidental Invasion of Baghdad Zoo.

But today, everything is back to normal with animals being loved and cared for like one big family, with members of different personalities, physical features, charm, and quirks.

Also, there are no more shadows of its past, as described in Whittington-Jones’s book and the poem of Brian Turner, “The Baghdad Zoo.” There was also the fictionalized graphic novel of Brian K. Vaughan, Pride of Baghdad.

Who wants to keep looking back? The zoo has already learned its lesson, and it is time to keep looking forward!

And to enjoy the present, just as the animals in this viral video are doing!