The staff of a private hotel in South Africa (Limpopo province) faced an unusual and somewhat curious problem: they had to figure out a way to free the hippopotamus from the pool that had become its trap.
The young hippo was not lucky from the very beginning: for some offenses he was expelled from the herd by his older brothers. The unfortunate animal wandered in thought in the vicinity of Monate Park, then wandered into the territory of a private reserve. Seeing the pool, the hippopotamus jumped into it and got seriously stuck there. The animal could not get out on land on its own.
According to the head of the reserve, Ruby Ferreira, the hippopotamus had no chance of freeing itself from water captivity on its own. In addition, she noted that the hippo was in more or less comfortable conditions, at least it was not cramped for him, since the pool is large enough.
The hotel staff were very surprised to find an intruder in the pool. According to eyewitnesses, one of the women was simply shocked by this sight. After the emotions subsided, the hotel staff called a crane and a veterinarian. Also, representatives of the Society for the Protection of Animals arrived at the scene. While the prisoner was waiting for the liberators, the hotel staff fed the unfortunate. True, for this they had to pump out part of the water from the pool.
The veterinarian put the hippopotamus to sleep, the water was completely drained and the animal was pulled out of the pool with a crane. The hippopotamus was loaded into a truck and sent to a new habitat, since the herd that had expelled the cub would hardly have taken it back.
The hotel staff admitted that they even felt sorry to part with their new guest, they thought he was so cute and cute. However, when the hippopotamus was finally released, they wished him not to get into similar situations anymore.
It is curious that the hippopotamus is among the largest animals on earth, the weight of an adult male can reach 4 tons. The animal spends most of the time in the water, going out on land for several hours at night. The behavior of hippos is characterized by pronounced aggressiveness; in the fights of males, one of the participants often dies. The animal is also dangerous for people, more people die from its attacks than from buffaloes, lions or leopards.
