The four-year-old South African hippopotamus who had been stuck in a swimming pool at the Monate Conservation Lodge for the past three days after being chased from his herd has passed on to the Great Game Reserve in the Sky. The plan was to sedate Solly and then use a crane to lift the one-ton animal out of the pool, but he died before officials could attempt the rescue. While Solly had been relatively calm for the first few days in the pool, it wasn鈥檛 a safe or natural environment for a gigantic hippo. Officials believe his stress levels gradually grew and, coupled with the tension of fighting for and failing to obtain a spot in his herd, it all contributed to his demise. “It started out as a happy story and now it’s a tragic story,鈥 said lodge manager Ruby Ferreira. 鈥淚t’s devastating.” Bullied from his herd and dead in a swimming pool filled with hippo poop鈥攖he world is a cruel, dark place.
Via