Moscow Circus uses vodka to keep elephants warm in Mongolia

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2006

ULAN BATOR (AFP) — The Moscow Circus has resorted to vodka -- plenty of it -- to keep two Indian elephants warm while they perform in chilly Mongolia, local media and organizers said.

As the circus prepared for a week-long program in Mongolia's capital Ulan Bator, they faced an awkward problem -- how to keep the two tropical animals happy in one of the world's coldest environments. They found a very Russian solution.

"When the elephants arrived, we gave them three liters of vodka each to keep warm," a Mongolian organizer told AFP on Sunday.

The mercury in Mongolia regularly falls to minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit) or lower during the winter months.

Last time the Moscow Circus was in Ulan Bator was over 25 years ago, when Russia...