Cold monkey with wine

Wine is added to the monkeys' daily menu in a zoo in Kazakhstan for them to fend off the cold weather.

Europe is suffering from an extraordinary cold spell that killed more than 300 people and Kazakhstan is no exception. Temperatures in Karaganda, a city about 190 kilometers southwest of Kazakhstan's capital Astana, range from -33 to -38 degrees Celsius last week.

Monkey drinks mixed wine and hot water in warm
in the Karaganda city zoo. (Photo: BBC)

BBC said that in the past days every monkey in the Karaganda city zoo was drinking 50 grams of Cahors wine mixed with hot water in the warm every day. They eat apples, lemons and sugar when drinking alcohol.

Svetlana Pilyuk, the zoo's deputy director, said the monkeys showed interest in drinking wine.

A staff member of the Karaganda City Zoo poured wine into a kettle containing hot water before bringing it to the monkey. (Photo: BBC)

"We let monkeys drink wine in the winter to prevent inflammation of the airways in their bodies. Like humans, primates also like alcoholic drinks. Even more children abuse alcohol." the deputy director said.

However, pregnant females and young monkeys should not drink wine.

The deputy director of the city zoo Karaganda affirmed that monkeys drink alcohol to prevent malaria is a popular measure that zoos in the world have applied. His zoo always lets monkeys drink something when the temperature is low or when they are transferred from one zoo to another.

According to Pilyuk, in a wild environment primates often eat plants that contain alcohol to stimulate the nerves and create a sense of euphoria.

Emma Edwards, spokesman for the London Animal Association, opposed the measure of the Karaganda city zoo.

"Alcohol reduces the temperature in animal blood. So drinking alcohol is a counter-scientific measure," Edwards said.