6-yr-old hippo dies in zoo

Shakti was one of the youngest of the five hippos in the enclosure and was born and reared in the zoo. It was born to Deva (18) and Shilpa (13) who still live in the same enclosure,zoo sources said. There is one male and three female hippos left now.

A source said,“It seems Shakti died of respiratory failure followed by cardiac arrest. Apparently,the animal had been off feed,and had not defecated for a day or two.” The average age of a hippo in captivity is 40 years. “Only the post mortem reports can shed light on the exact cause of the premature death. It is highly improbable that the death occurred due to the animal being off feed.

On Friday afternoon,zoo doctors along with a professor of pathology from the Bombay Veterinary College,Parel,performed a post-mortem on Shakti.

“Samples of body fluids have been taken for tests. We are waiting for the post-mortem report in two days,” zoo officials said. On rumour that the animal died of dehydration,zoo officials said,“That’s not true. But we can confirm the cause of the death only after the post-mortem reports are out.”