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PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION Second Hippo Arrives At SanWild for Release Back To The Wild Aldo, a young, 13-year-old hippopotamus, born in France, was confiscated earlier this week from Venice Circus in Gard, southern France as he was held without the necessary CITES permits and documentation. Serge Landri, director of Venice Circus was summonsed to pay a fine for violating CITES legislation. The hippo was handed over to 30 Million Friends Foundation in France who in return found a new home for Aldo at the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa’s Limpopo Province that have become internationally know for giving a home to many misplaced, injured, orphaned, seized and confiscated wild animals. Aldo arrived at this new home, the 6000 hectare SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary where he will be placed in a wooden stockade to acclimatise and to get to know his new animal friends him before he is allowed to join Tonga, another confiscated hippo that arrived from Paris in August 2007. Tonga was successfully released after only 10 days in the stockade and he has adapted perfectly to living in the wild, interacting naturally with the other wildlife that share his new world, including elephants and rhinos. It is hoped that the two male hippos will become acquainted while Aldo is held in the stockade a mere 50 meters away from where Tonga swims around in a large dam that has been his sole domain since August. Once it is established that no aggression is taking place between the two bull hippos, Aldo will be free to go and join Tonga. Recent good rains has allowed natural vegetation to grow in abundance and since the beginning of October Tonga has received no additional supplement feeding and has been grazing quite contentedly on a natural diet of palatable grasses. Louise Joubert, founder trustee of the SanWild Wildlife Trust emphasised the amazing achievement and impact that the relocation have had on the lives of two male hippos. She said that people in many instances could never image the change the seizures and relocations have had in the lives of these two particular animals. “From living under miserable conditions in isolation with only a couple of square meters to move around, the two bull hippos now have an amazing 6000 hectares of freedom” she said. A range of wild animals that inhabit the reserve visits them daily. “There is nobody to confine the hippos or force them to do anything they do not choose to do on their own accord. Humans know that there is no price we will not put to freedom, how much more then do a wild animal cherish their own freedom?” she concluded.
The 30 Million Friends Foundation will pay the
40,000 euros that the trip Issued by the SanWild Wildlife Trust Friday 7 December 2007 Contact details: Louise Joubert Tel/Fax: +27 (0)15-3187900 Mobile +27 (0) 833103882 Websites: www.sanwild.org & www.afritrust.com Email: louise@sanwild.org High resolution photographs available on requests of before and after situations on both hippos. |
