The City of Cape Town’s Biodiversity Management branch has successfully relocated a four-year-old hippo bull from the False Bay Nature Reserve to the Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve.
The 17-hour operation, completed yesterday morning, involved months of planning and required a specially built capture boma, a crane, a flatbed truck, veterinary expertise, and experienced staff.
The animal was captured late on 22 July and transported overnight to reduce stress, arriving safely at 08:30.The move was necessary to prevent potential conflict with other males and to avoid the risk of the hippo dispersing into surrounding communities.
The Plettenberg Bay reserve offers ample space, water resources, and an existing hippo population.
Since arrival, the animal has been kept in a separate dam for monitoring before joining the resident pod.
This marks the fourth successful hippo translocation by the City in the past decade, underscoring its commitment to wildlife management and conservation.
The 17-hour operation, completed yesterday morning, involved months of planning and required a specially built capture boma, a crane, a flatbed truck, veterinary expertise, and experienced staff.
The animal was captured late on 22 July and transported overnight to reduce stress, arriving safely at 08:30.The move was necessary to prevent potential conflict with other males and to avoid the risk of the hippo dispersing into surrounding communities.
The Plettenberg Bay reserve offers ample space, water resources, and an existing hippo population.
Since arrival, the animal has been kept in a separate dam for monitoring before joining the resident pod.
This marks the fourth successful hippo translocation by the City in the past decade, underscoring its commitment to wildlife management and conservation.
