Rehabilitate Hippo

A Wildlife agency has been asked to rehabilitate the hippopotamus which came from a private circus and is now reportedly abandoned in a village near Polur and languishing without sufficient water. People for Animals (PFA), which sent one of its representatives from Tiruvannamalai to check on the hippo's condition, said that two attendants from the circus were taking care of the animal in a facility owned by the Forest Department.

Raja, the 18-year-old male hippopotamus, is being kept in a shaded tank measuring 4 x 4.5 metres with five feet of water level. The animal has been there for almost nine weeks now. The hippo's morning diet is five loaves of bread, five litres of milk, a bunch of bananas and 40 kg of grass. In the evening, it is provided with carrots, potatoes and rice.

The animal spends most of its time in the tank and comes out only to feed, PFA said. Their spokesman felt it was time the Wildlife authorities intervened and shifted the animal to a suitable place. The circus to which the hippo belonged, has the dubious distinction of abandoning animals. On an earlier occasion, it had abandoned a dozen carnivores including lions and tigers in a village in Tiruvannamalai district, which were rescued and rehabilitated by the Wildlife authorities.

The good news is that the PFA are now involved in this and hopefully will pile on a lot of pressure. I feel so sorry for our dear hippo friend and am hoping the Wildlife authorities do in fact intervene and shift the hippo to some nice muddy river! And while they're at it - how about shutting down that private circus?!