ANIMAL KINGDOM : Hippo’s Freedom Ends in Death
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LONDON — Hilda the hippo’s brief taste of freedom ended in tragedy today.
The three-ton hippopotamus escaped from her trailer onto a busy four-lane English highway but died after being shot with a tranquilizer dart while being recaptured.
“It didn’t survive the drug that was used and the stress and trauma of the recapture,” said Roger Cawley of Longleat Safari Park, Hilda’s owners.
Hilda, aged 10, was on her way to be paired with a mate at another safari park when her trailer ran out of control near Thruxton in Hampshire, allowing her to break free. Motorists swerved to avoid her and police sealed off the road.
Cawley said Hilda grazed quietly by the roadside for nearly two hours but failed to survive the difficult rescue involving pulleys, ropes and a tractor.
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