Vodka Saves Elephants' Lives during Harsh Russian Winter

Oh, vodka! Is there anything you can't do?

Circus trainers claim two of their elephants were saved from the deadly Siberian cold by vodka.
Emergency ministry spokesman Alexander Davydov said Friday that the elephants were in a trailer that caught fire Thursday outside the city of Novosibirsk, forcing trainers to take them out into the bitter cold before another truck arrived to deliver them to a warm gym at a local community college.
The Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reported that trainer Leonid Labo had the animals, aged 45 and 48, drink 10 liters (2.6 gallons) of vodka diluted in warm water — and a veterinarian said later that only the tips of their ears were frostbitten.

Link -via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: True Russian Vodka

Actually for short-term frost-bite protection, that's exactly what you want. You want warm core blood to circulate freely to extremities. It's not a good long term treatment because you will become hypothermic sooner than you would otherwise but for this situation it sounds like they did the right thing.

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It's very possible that the warm water alone was enough...

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And how much of that 10 liters went into the trainer's tummy for "medicinal purposes?"

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