Roaming St Lucia hippo safely relocated
The hippo had become accustomed to grazing the grass verges during daylight hours
A YOUNG male hippo who has in recent months become the main attraction around St Lucia, was last week captured and relocated after becoming seemingly too comfortable grazing on the town’s grass verges during daylight hours.
Initially seen hanging out at the offices of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, which are close to the estuary, the hippo more recently chose to pound St Lucia’s pavements.
‘Seemingly chilled, he grazed as peacefully as a domestic cow mere metres from passersby – but therein lay the danger,’ said the Park authority in a statement.
‘While hippos walking St Lucia’s streets is by no means an unusual phenomenon, this usually occurs only after dark, when the animals emerge from the estuary to spend the night grazing.
PHOTO: iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority
‘After one or two people ventured a bit too close and received a display of his impressive tusks, management realised the day had come to relocate him to a quieter part of the park.’
Early on Thursday morning, while the young bull was grazing the lush green lawns of the Luwandla residential complex, he was darted by Dr Rowan Leeming, working under the guidance of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife vet Dr Dave Cooper.
The fast-working, recently developed combination of drugs quickly sent the hippo into a slumber and the Ezemvelo Game Capture Unit got to work.
The immobilised bull was bound and strapped, hoisted with a crane and lowered into a large transportation crate.
PHOTO: iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority
He was then driven to Fani’s Island on the Western Shores section of the wetland park, an area with few resident hippo, and released on the shores of Lake St Lucia where he almost immediately ventured into the water.
‘As always with wildlife, iSimangaliso urges visitors to respect the presence of any wild animal and to be mindful of the sheer privilege of peaceful co-existence.
‘As we enter the busiest tourist season of the year, we ask accommodation owners to remind their guests of the constant presence of hippos and other wildlife, and to report any injuries, incidents or transgressions to the iSimangaliso emergency line 082 7977944.’
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