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Canadian zoo up on cruelty charges over treatment of hippo

A commercial zoo here was charged on Wednesday with animal cruelty for keeping a baby hippopotamus alone for 19 months in a small, dark shed on a concrete floor.

"Even inmates in prison don't spend their lives alone," said Eileen Drever, the animal protection constable who investigated the zoo.

It is the first time a major Canadian zoo was charged, according to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which employs Drever.

Prosecutors laid two counts of causing an animal to be in distress, after the Greater Vancouver Zoo, a private amusement park in this west coast metropolis, failed to comply with Drever's orders to improve the animal's life.

The zoo operators could face a fine of up to US$1,800 or six months in prison.

The hippo, named Hazina, was bought as a baby from another Canadian zoo in Granby, Quebec.

"She's a wonderful animal," said Drever, who noted the young hippo has bonded with her zoo keeper and is so friendly she likes to lick visitors.

Hazina is now two years old, weighs about 450kg, and has spent the past 19 months in a pen measuring about 5m by 6m, which includes a small wading pool.

"I was quite shocked to see the conditions she was living in," said Drever, who ordered the zoo in November to allow Hazina access to natural daylight.

The SPCA ordered the zoo to enlarge Hazina's shallow pool so she can relieve her weight in water to avoid stress on her joints, and to cover the concrete floor of her shed with rubber matting.

A zoo official told local reporters the charges are "garbage" and said there have been construction delays in building a new pen for the hippo. However, he also acknowledged that 19 months was too long for Hazina to spend in the small shed.

Four hippopotamuses have already died at the zoo. In the 1980s two broke through thin ice on a pond in winter and drowned. In the past six years, two others died while in their 20s. Hippos typically live to age 40, said Drever.

The zoo recently lost its accreditation with the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which monitors standards of animal care.
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