A hippo wandering in False Bay Nature Reserve has been captured and released in Gondwana Game Reserve near Mossel Bay.
|||Cape Town -
A hippo wandering in False Bay Nature Reserve has been captured and released in Gondwana Game Reserve near Mossel Bay, the City of Cape Town said on Wednesday.
Environmental resources manager Julia Wood said the young hippo was transported to Gondwana on Friday.
“The translocation was part of the City of Cape Town's efforts to re-establish this species back into the Western Cape.”
The hippo was found in the Strandfontein Birding Area where it could not move further because of the electric fence.
It apparently escaped last year from the Rondevlei section of the False Bay Nature Reserve where other hippos were located.
Wood said hippos used to be common in the Western Cape but they were wiped out by the early 1700s.
The species was re-established at Rondevlei in 1981, representing the first reintroduction of hippos back to their historical home grounds, said Wood. - Sapa