Wandering Mbombela hippo returned to safety Posted by Adrian Brown on 15 January 2019 A stray hippo roaming the streets of Mbombela is now in the care and safety of the Mpumalanga Wildlife Protection Services (MWPS) after a successful rescue operation took place in the early hours of Sunday morning. According to reports issued by Lowvelder, a local media site, the hippo was spotted on the streets of Mbombela. It was spotted grazing on a patch of grass near the main road and no one is sure of how it had found its way into the urban area. Emer_G_Med, a private medical and ambulance service company captured images of the hippo strolling the streets. 《Nelspruit》@EMER_G_MED @lowvelder @nelspruitpost Only in Nelspruit! Young male found on the R40 Bosch street off ramp doing his evening grazing. Parks Board darted the young man and was last night safely relocated back into the Kruger National Park pic.twitter.com/KcGiFEz2Ta — EMER-G-MED (@EMER_G_MED) January 13, 2019 The hippo was darted three times by Mpumalanga Wildlife Protection Services after midnight before being transported to safety. Bossies Community Justice operations manager Albert Greyvenstein told News24 the relocation of the hippo was challenging. “It took three darts to get him to fall asleep and he had to be lifted onto the truck by crane,” he said. The rescue operation took three hours to complete. To ensure the safety of the public and the hippo, access to the road was blocked until the animal was safely removed. Greyvenstein explained, “The R40 is one of the main routes in Mbombela, and it is a busy road, so we had to ensure the hippo didn’t wander into the traffic.” A Hi-Tech officer, Clint Wesley, told the Louwvelder it was not a common sighting and it was the third that he had seen in over 25 years. Picture: Twitter/ EMER_G_MED Related Posts Cape Town’s sustainability: Leading the way in environmental initiatives 1 June 2023 As National Environmental Month commences in South Africa, Cape Town stands proudly at the forefront... read more Kapama to host Safari Guide of the Year Awards 2023 1 June 2023 Kapama Private Game Reserve near Hoedspruit will host this year’s Safari Guide of the Year... read more Blood Lions relaunches for public viewing on YouTube 1 June 2023 Award-winning documentary feature film Blood Lions has been relaunched on YouTube for public viewing, creating... read more PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE
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