MOSCOW, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Two circus elephants drank vodka
to help them survive when their trailer caught fire in freezing
Siberia, RIA news agency said.
A quick-thinking handler resorted to the traditional Russian
cure for all ills by buying two cases of vodka from a nearby
village, diluting it with warm water and serving it to Indian
elephants Jenny and Magda, it said.
He had become desperate after realising that making them run
round the broken truck was not enough to prevent them freezing
to death before a new trailer arrived to complete their journey.
RIA quoted a local official as saying the vodka had helped them
survive.
"After that they roared as if they were in the jungle!
Apparently they were happy," he said.
Jenny and Magda, touring the region with a Polish circus,
were then taken to a local school gym with little more than
frostbite on their ears and trunks.
They reached their final destination in the Siberian city of
Omsk on Friday and began rehearsing for circus performances over
Christmas and the New Year.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Shockman; Writing by Alissa de
Carbonnel; Editing by Stephen Powell)
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