Hippopotamus Lives as a Pampered House Pet

"To come upon a hippopotamus in the wild would be sobering and cause for serious alarm, but a South African family has become surrogate parents to a hippo in their house as their pampered pet. Jessica the hippo prefers her home creature comforts to a life in the wild as she wanders around their house, eats at their table, drinks sweet coffee, and even gets a massage before she goes to bed."

clipped from www.lifeinthefastlane.ca Photo Barcroft Shirley and Tonie Joubert rescued the abandoned hippopotamus from a river bank on their property in Hoedspruit, Limpopo, South Africa after a devastating flood when she was merely hours old, and still had the umbilical cord attached to her in March 2000. Photo The Jouberts’ hand raised her — not wanting to leave her to dire fate of being eaten by crocodiles or starving to death — fully expecting her to return to the wild as soon as she was old enough. They’ve spent the past 8 years raising Jessica, and the world’s only tame hippo has never left since. Photo Photo “I don’t know whether she thinks I’m a hippo or she thinks she’s a human. But we have the most fantastic bond.” When Tonie calls her name, Jessica honks out her own greeting in return. Photo “She’s already broken a bed and a sofa, and it can be very messy because she’s not house trained.” Photo Photo In between meals Jessica wallows in the river which runs through the Jouberts’ land Photo . She’s the child I never had . Photo ” .