Blood ice blocks and sprinkler runs: How Paradise Valley Springs animals are cooling off this summer

A kea munching down on a seed iceblock. Photo / Supplied

Would you like your ice block filled with blood, fruit and veg or seeds this hot summer day?

Along with sprinkler play and box-sized ice cubes floating in troughs, staff at Rotorua's Paradise Valley Spring Wildlife Park are finding ways to keep the animals cool in this stifling summer heat.

Every year as the hot sun settles in the valley, the team at the wildlife park get to work making sure the animals are kept at optimum temperatures.

The pigs were big fans of their icy treats. Photo / Supplied

Deputy supervisor Olivia Foster said little things like putting sprinklers in the paddocks and making nutrient-filled ice blocks were just some of the ways they were "making it easier" for the animals in the heat.

The pigs and rabbits were the biggest fans of the icy treats as it was "such a novelty".

A rabbit cooling off with a fruit and veg iceblock. Photo / Supplied

The lions were less phased about cooling down since they were "African at heart", but always got excited when their "blood ice blocks" arrived, she said.

When they aren't chowing down, sipping a cold one from the trough or playing in the sprinkler, the animals could be found sunbathing in the heat or lying under the trees, she said.

"The only difference is that they [the animals] are a bit lazier - but aren't we all in this heat?"

A kea munching down on a seed iceblock. Photo / Supplied