Mmmm, tasty: Willy sticks out his grey tongue to lick up the ice cubes – and maple syrup – from his treat

What a cool gift! Willy frolics happily on his bed of ice

Willy, who weighs a staggering 800 lbs or 57 stones, is pictured licking the ice, eating an apple and lounging, in scenes more like the Arctic than a zoo. The ice cubes were donated to the zoo by a local ice company. Photographer Valerie Abbott, 51, took the pictures while watching Willy for two and a half hours. She said: ‘Willy was anxious to get out and play in the new ice. He rolled around, dug into the ice, laid on his back and would root in it with his nose.

I’m done now: Worn out from his play, a sleepy Willy plops onto his tummy for a n-ice nap

‘When the keeper threw him the apple at first he didn’t notice but his strong sense of smell eventually led him to it. ‘I was incredibly lucky to get a picture of Willy sticking his tongue out so far as he licked the ice.’ The zoo used the event to launch a fundraising appeal to raise money to expand the polar bear enclosure. Temperatures in North Carolina rarely dip below freezing.