ABC

Hippos crowd Israel zoo

Middle East correspondent Anne Barker, ABC November 3, 2009, 5:31 pm

Israel is dealing with a unique problem - what to do with a surplus of hippos.

Israel's zoo has had a baby boom in the hippo department.

A high birthrate has boosted the hippo population to 40 - far more than the average zoo could handle.

Zookeepers say they reached a point where they could find nothing to do with so many of them.

So in recent months, 14 hippos have been shipped by air or sea to zoos in Russia, Turkey, Vietnam, even Kazakhstan.

They say Israel is suddenly the world's top exporter of hippopotamuses. Many more zoos have placed orders.

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