Ice cubes for tigers as heat wave smashes European records

Children play in a water fountain to cool down on a hot summer day at Spikersuppa, in Oslo, Norway July 24, 2019. NTB Scanpix/Terje Bendiksby via REUTERS

BRUSSELS/MADRID (Reuters) - Belgian zookeepers fed tigers with chickens encased in giant ice cubes on Wednesday as northern Europe baked in record temperatures during another heat wave that climate experts believe could become the new normal.

For the second time in a month, a high pressure system drew scorching air from the Sahara Desert, breaking records for Belgium and the Netherlands and threatening the same in Britain, Germany and France in a streak that is due to last until Friday.