‘Rejected’ hippo gets new home

A YOUNG male hippo from Cape Town has started life in a new home after being ostracised by his father.

The two-and-a-half-year-old was captured on Wednesday night in the Strandfontein section of the False Bay Nature Reserve.

Early on Thursday, he was released at the Garden Route Game Lodge in Albertinia.

City of Cape Town mayoral committee member Eddie Andrews said the 750kg animal was on loan.

“This means that should the city in future need to expand our hippo population‚ one of these animals will be translocated from the Garden Route Game Lodge.”

The young male was part of a small herd of hippopotamus in the False Bay Nature Reserve, which consists of animals reintroduced in 1981 or born since.

He was driven out of the family group by his father several months ago.

“The arrival of offspring necessitates the removal of excess animals to maintain a carrying capacity and a genetically healthy population‚” said Andrews.

“Animals that are translocated are being placed to help establish other viable populations elsewhere in the Western Cape as part of the city’s commitment to biodiversity and natural heritage.”

Hippos were once common in the Western Cape but they were exterminated by the 1800s.

Animals from the False Bay Nature Reserve have been used to establish three other populations in the Western Cape. — TMG