Tigers get live carp, bears get beef bones: Seoul Grand Park serves up special heat-beating meals

A Siberian tiger eyes a block of frozen minerals at Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday, as an extreme heat wave continues. [Yonhap]

A record-breaking heat wave shows no sign of letting up, and animals are struggling through the summer just as much as people are.

Seoul Grand Park rolled out a special summer menu — featuring fruits, vegetables and seafood — to reduce stress and boost immunity among its animals. Siberian tigers received live carp, Asiatic black bears got beef bone trotters, and hippos were treated to watermelon, among a range of tailored meals.

An Asiatic black bear eats an oriental melon at Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday, as an extreme heat wave continues. [Yonhap]

Seoul Grand Park said Friday it distributed a total of 930 kilograms of special food across 16 animal enclosures, including the No. 1 Africa Hall. The park designed the menu with each species' ecological traits, nutritional balance and behavioral enrichment in mind.

In the big-cat enclosure, Siberian tigers were given live carp to encourage natural underwater hunting behavior, along with beef bone trotters to supplement their protein intake.

An Asian elephant enjoys a mud bath at Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday, as an extreme heat wave continues. [Yonhap]

Asiatic black bears in the bear enclosure received beef bone trotters along with a variety of fruits and vegetables to help relieve heat stress and replenish vitamins.

For the Asian elephants in the large-animal hall, the park drew on donations from its public "Donghang Fund" and other sponsorships to provide mud baths — an activity that helps the animals cool down while also benefiting their skin health.

A hippopotamus eats watermelon and other fruit at Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday, as an extreme heat wave continues. [Yonhap]

In the No. 2 Africa Hall, Barbary sheep were given access to cool mud baths, while hippos received watermelon and other seasonal fruits to boost their energy.

Japanese macaques at the children's zoo were kept active through a foraging exercise: ice blocks mixed with fruits and vegetables were placed in a pond inside their dedicated outdoor enclosure, which reopened for the first time in 42 years, encouraging the animals to search for food on their own.

A Japanese macaque pulls a banana from a block of ice at Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday, as an extreme heat wave continues. [Yonhap]

Through the special feeding program, Seoul Grand Park aims to reduce heat-related stress while encouraging natural behaviors, strengthening overall animal welfare.

"We will help the animals get through the summer in better health than ever by providing tailored nutrition and encouraging activities that bring out their wild instincts," park director Park Jin-soon said. "We will continue to put animal welfare first in all our management going forward."

ken@heraldcorp.com