Zoo in Kazakhstan gives monkeys red wine to ward off flu

A zoo in central Kazakhstan, where overnight temperatures have dipped to nearly -40C, is giving monkeys a wine concoction as a remedy against flu. Karaganda Zoo chief animal specialist Svetlana Pilyuk said it was not a matter of making the animals drunk but of "relaxing" them. The red wine is diluted with hot water and mixed with sugar and fruit. Ms Pilyuk said it was "normal practice" in zoos but London Zoo have said this is "absolutely not" the case.

Karaganda is one of the oldest zoos in Kazakhstan, an ex-Soviet republic with extreme winters. Despite the current freezing weather, the temperature in the monkey enclosure is kept at 27C, Ms Pilyuk said. In the video, a member of staff at Karaganda Zoo is shown mixing the drink in a kettle. It consists of wine, lemon, apple, sugar and "a little" hot water. Monkeys are then filmed drinking the "grog" from the spout of the kettle, as a keeper coaxes them, saying "Drink, drink, drink". The keeper said that the norm per animal was between 50 and 100 grams.


YouTube link.

Pregnant monkeys and babies are not allowed to have the drink, Ms Pilyuk said. "We give the monkeys wine because in the winter it protects them from respiratory infections," she said. "After all, primates are just like people - they enjoy drinking an alcoholic drink. Some of them even abuse it, coming up to the drinking trough several times."

The chief animal specialist said: "We by no means make them drunk. It's normal practice. Zoos do this all over the world." In nature, she pointed out, primates eat plants containing alcohol, "which relaxes their nervous system". Emma Edwards, a spokesperson for the Zoological Society of London, said the zoo was not familiar with the facility at Karaganda. "It's absolutely not the norm to give any animals alcohol, diluted or otherwise," she said. "Alcohol lowers the blood temperature so it would be completely the wrong thing to do."