Wandering hippo awaits its fate

June 22 2006 at 09:00PM

The fate of a wandering hippo living in a dam at Amabele near Stutterheim in the Eastern Cape will probably be decided on Friday.

The Eastern Cape's department of environmental affairs said on Thursday various suggestions had been made about how to deal with the hippo.

"We'll evaluate that tomorrow (Friday)," said the department's assistant director of the special investigations unit, Jaap Pienaar.

"We're investigating possibilities to get a solution to this whole issue."

He said there was no deadline for a decision and the hippo was not a threat at the moment.

"It's raining, it's snowing, it's icy, thank goodness. There's no people anywhere near it. Nature is sorting it out," said Pienaar.

The hippo has been in the area for a few weeks.

On Thursday, the Daily Dispatch reported that people had gathered at the dam and thrown stones and objects at the hippo whenever it surfaced.

"Hippos cause more deaths among humans throughout Africa than any other single animal... If this one charges the crowd, the potential for serious injury and death is very real," Pienaar told the Dispatch.

He said one of the options was shooting the animal, as it was difficult to capture a hippo.

"It takes 15 minutes to put a hippo out if you dart it with a tranquilliser. You have to do this a good distance away from water... if the drug takes effect while the animal is in the water it will drown."

He said there was too much grazing around the dam to lure the hippo away with food. - Sapa

The Hippo's predicament: Damned if you do and damned if you don't. (Literally and figuratively speaking)

Anyone else remember the hippo years ago who went on a cross country trip from somewhere in the transval to the very outskirts of Joberg before someone finally shot it? I think the press named it Henery, later to be changed to henrieta for obvious reasons and printed regular updates on her travels.