The Zoo Winter Special

6.20pm RTÉ One

Hundreds of animals in Dublin Zoo need constant care every day of the year, no matter what the conditions.

This edition looks at the keepers of the facility who were tested like never before by atrocious weather just before spring.

March came roaring in like a lion when The Beast from the East swept over Ireland, bringing with it plunging temperatures, snow and ice.

The challenge was keeping the animals, many of them species not adapted to such freezing climes, fed and warm – although the penguins seemed happy.

But rst, the sta have to get to the zoo in appalling travel conditions.