Oakland firefighter Mark Perez has trained his hose on plenty of fires, but spraying water on elephants?
Firefighters from Station 28 in the East Oakland hills volunteered their time to hose down the Oakland Zoo’s elephants Thursday and help them beat the heat. Temperatures were in the 70s and not quite as hot as they’ve been, with cloud cover and unusual humidity. Colleen Kinzley, zoo curator, said it’s highly unlikely the elephants would overheat, but zookeepers held the activity more for their enjoyment and to create an interesting environment for the pachyderms.
“We think that they’re going to enjoy it, but we really don’t know,” said Kinzley.