A Hippo’s Daring Attempt To Escape By Jumping Out Of Moving Truck Doesn’t End Well
A hippo thought of escaping by jumping out of a moving truck in Taiwan, but ended up sprawled in the middle of the road. The poor creature was extensively injured.
A hippopotamus, while being transported, panicked and attempted to escape his moving temporary shelter by leaping out of the vehicle. Though, fortunately, the hippo crash-landed on a parked vehicle, it later stumbled onto the road, badly injured. News media captured the images of the poor creature lying on the road with fluid oozing from its eyes. It appeared the hippo had broken his legs. Surprisingly, the hippo managed to scale the ventilation window to escape.
The sound of the collision startled people nearby who gathered to see the injured animal and quite a few made frantic calls to the police in central Miaoli county. A woman who ran out of her house upon hearing crash thought she saw a “dinosaur” lying on the road, reported United Daily News. The truck driver who was transporting the creature, said he saw the hippo “flying out” of the vehicle after getting spooked during the drive.
The hippo, named “A Ho” after the Chinese name for hippo Ho Ma, lay injured on the road for quite a while before he was put into a cargo container and taken back to a farm in central Taichung city, confirmed the officials who responded to the rather strange accident. Emergency workers were in quite a dilemma because they were ill-equipped to manage such a huge creature. Having broken its leg made the rescue operation for the hippo extremely difficult.
Fortunately for the rescue personnel, the hippo appeared quite docile and compliant. However, upon closer inspection, it was observed that not only had the hippo broken its legs, but his teeth showed significant damage as well.
The local media has confirmed that the hippo was a star attraction at the farm and had even appeared in a popular television soap opera several years ago. It wasn’t immediately clear as to why its owners were transporting the hippo without the proper container and other mandatory paraphernalia that is required to transport such a large live animal. However, it was later learned that the hippo was being transported to a new recreational farm the company had commissioned.
Such callousness will have to be penalized, confirmed the officials, who said the owner could face a fine of up to Tw$75,000 (US$2,400) for violating animal protection laws.
[Image Credit | Ashley Kuan/AFP]
