When some St Lucia residents earlier this week claimed that a trouble some Hippo is roaming the streets of the small town tendering for a bullet I personally thought them out of line. We have roaming Hippo since as long as I could remember and the towns people always dealt with it.
Earlier tonight a local resident was savagely mauled by one of these seemingly docile creatures. He is in Hospital fighting for his life with extensive internal injuries and one leg amputated below his knee. Since it is such a small town where people live so close to nature a brutal attack like this come as a shock.
Apparently he heard his dogs barking and when he went to investigate he was cornered by the animal brutally attacking him. Although this is well known behavior for Hippo when one crosses its escape path to the safety of water or when one lands between Cow and Calf one never expects to be attack in your own garden/porch.
We pray with the family and friends for the persons well being and hope that his recovery is speedy. We have no official version of the story and hope that most of the facts is accurate and not offending any one. I am purely reporting on this since I know some of the family personally and know how passionate they are about St Lucia.
Whether this will lead to the animals destruction remains to be seen. It has always been believed that once an animal has lost its natural fear for humans it is safer for man and beast that the animal should be put down. Since Hippo do not capture easily it could be the only option to protect the holiday makers and community against this menacing animal.
Earlier tonight a local resident was savagely mauled by one of these seemingly docile creatures. He is in Hospital fighting for his life with extensive internal injuries and one leg amputated below his knee. Since it is such a small town where people live so close to nature a brutal attack like this come as a shock.
Apparently he heard his dogs barking and when he went to investigate he was cornered by the animal brutally attacking him. Although this is well known behavior for Hippo when one crosses its escape path to the safety of water or when one lands between Cow and Calf one never expects to be attack in your own garden/porch.
We pray with the family and friends for the persons well being and hope that his recovery is speedy. We have no official version of the story and hope that most of the facts is accurate and not offending any one. I am purely reporting on this since I know some of the family personally and know how passionate they are about St Lucia.
Whether this will lead to the animals destruction remains to be seen. It has always been believed that once an animal has lost its natural fear for humans it is safer for man and beast that the animal should be put down. Since Hippo do not capture easily it could be the only option to protect the holiday makers and community against this menacing animal.
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