SOUTH KOREA: Polar bears chew on iced fruits and fish to endure the summer heat in South Korea

Polar bears at a South Korean zoo chewed on iced fruit and fish on Sunday (July 30) to cool themselves from the summer heat. Zoo keepers threw chunks of iced watermelon, apples and mackerel into a pool where the bears were bathing at Everland amusement park, located south of Seoul. The polar bears grabbed the iced chunks with their paws and chewed on the ice slowly to reach the food inside. The bears' food was frozen in blocks of ice to help them endure the sweltering temperatures, which reached up to 28 degrees Celsius on Sunday afternoon (July 30). "The polar bears are eating iced fruits to decrease their temperature levels, and this is important for animals who get very hot during the summer, so we are feeding them frozen food," said Lee Jae-han, who works for the Everland Resort Brand and PR Department. The bears attracted hundreds of children, who took out their cellphones to take pictures of the bears. "It is fascinating to see the animals because we don't get to see them often around us," said 13-year-old Kim Kyung-woo. For 32-year old Gong Bo-kyung, who visited the amusement park with her two children, watching the bears chew on the iced fruits helped her cool off. "The rain has stopped and it is really humid and hot but watching the bears eat iced fruits cools us down and it's nice," she said. South Korea endured a long monsoon season this summer, which ended in Seoul on Saturday (July 29).

ITN Source | August 7, 2006

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