Giant pandas need to eat in a crisis too, so Edinburgh Zoo’s chiefs are hoarding a food mountain for Britain’s only pair of the animals.
It is not just the famous pandas who need hunger warded off. With more than 1,000 rare and endangered animals, the conservation charity has plenty of mouths to feed on a variety of diets.
Three months of supplies have been stockpiled, including locally sourced bamboo for the pandas, eucalyptus for koalas, meat and creepy crawlies. The zoo is keeping fish on ice for its king penguins.
The 107-year-old institution, which is Scotland’s second largest paid tourist attraction with 600,000 visitors every year, closed its gates this week, along with the Highland Wildlife Park.
Jo Elliot, the zoo’s animal collection manager,