Zoo Keeps Animals Warm During The Winter

SALISBURY, Md.- The
Salisbury Zoo is moving some of their animals indoors, out of the cold, to keep
them safe. Zoo animals are typically not native to the region where they're living
in captivity, so weather tends to impact them much differently in comparison local
species. This is particularly true during the winter.

Caleb Oliver, a keeper at
the zoo says, “Frost bite is one of the biggest concerns, and then that can
lead to shock and just overall badness.”

Once temperatures dip below
40 degrees, keepers at the Salisbury Zoo do a winter assessment of their
animals. 

Lauren Milliner, another
keeper at zoo says, “We start taking into consideration that we need to start
putting heat lamps out, that we need to evaluate what animals are going to do
well in the cold, which ones aren't.”  

Heat lamps are put in
cages for animals that are used to warmer temperatures and just last month, the
zoo put in a new heated floor for their bears. 

Bears, bison, and deer all
have a certain fur quality and body fat that can help them withstand heat and
cold, but not all animals can do that. 

Oliver continues, “The
reptiles definitely are the first to go being cold blooded.”

In those cases, zoo
keepers pull the animals off the exhibits, because they say safety and the well-
being of animals always comes first.