Hippo euthanized because of illness
FILE/AP
Montgomery the hippopotamus has been euthanized at the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia after what zoo officials said was several months of illness. Montgomery was 36.
COLUMBIA — A hippopotamus that was one of the first animals at Columbia's Riverbanks Zoo and Garden was euthanized Tuesday after several months of illness.
Zoo officials said Wednesday that Montgomery had arthritis in two ankles, a tooth infection and digestive problems caused by pain medication. The zoo said the hippo's condition became difficult to control and treat.
Monty, as he also was called, was the only hippo at the zoo, and spokeswoman Lindsay Burke said the zoo doesn't have immediate plans to get another.
Zoo senior veterinarian Keith Benson said it became difficult to keep Montgomery comfortable as the illness progressed.
Montgomery was born at the Memphis Zoo in 1972 and had been at the Columbia zoo since 1974. A flamingo and a saki monkey are the zoo's two remaining original animals.
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Comments
This article has 8 comment(s)
Posted by Tammie on July 17, 2008 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think I am going to cry. Seriously. May Montgomery rest in peace. And if PETA comes anywhere near the zoo, throw poo at 'em.
Damn, I sounded like Weeee.
Posted by Larz13 on July 17, 2008 at 11:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Chinese food establishments in the Columbia go on a 3 week cat vacation.
Posted by Tammie on July 17, 2008 at 11:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Lmao @ everyone who posted after me!
Posted by Weeeee on July 17, 2008 at 1:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
HAHAHAH
This ONLY works if you throw Hippo POOOOOOOO!!!!
Po po hippo. (not poo poo) I'd want to be put out of my misery too if I couldn't walk because it hurt so much. Digestive problems means he had issues with....POOOO.
Posted by lucy_fan on July 17, 2008 at 1:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Weeeee- You are such a riot!!!
Early- that was baaaad!!!! You had me cracking up over here. I'm getting to the point where I just need to leave the masacara for night time and not at work.
But seriously, too bad for poor Hippo. Probably much better off. Didn't seem to have much quality of life stuck there in Columbia.
Poor Tammie. Don't cry honey. Go find a frosty and you'll be good as new. :)
Posted by Buffy1 on July 17, 2008 at 3:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
First off, I am sorry this is not about the poor hippo, but I felt the need to defend PETA. I agree that sometimes PETA does some silly things, but their overall message is good- it is about stopping animal cruelty- whether that be cruel, painful, and VERY often unnecessary experiments (especially with cosmetics), or that animals should not be made to suffer so we can eat them.
Before everyone starts calling me a bleeding heart liberal, I am a hard core Reagan conservative, and to the right of Ann Coulter! I am also a vegetarian, and a big supporter of animal rights and PETA. Also, I do not ever try and pressure other people to become vegetarians, I may talk about it if it comes up, but I do not preach. I do believe that we should have more humane ways of butchering these poor animals if people are going to eat them. I do not see what is extremist about that? I think it should be done as painlessly as possible, even if that means that the price of a hamburger goes up b/c of these changes.
If it were not for groups like PETA, then when monsters like Michael Vick run gruesome dog fighting rings, the public would not know about it, and be able to apply public pressure to send a message to the judge that a slap on the wrist for that kind of inhumane torture of animals will not be acceptable. Of course everyone knew about Vick b/c he was a "star", but PETA sends members down to protest outside of many lesser known trials as well, like the one in Broward County right now, where a woman moved out of her apartment at the beginning of the month, and left her German Shepard locked in his kennel, where he of course straved to death, and was found by the landlord when he came inquiring about a smell. PETA has had people outside of that court and getting this case the attention it deserves.
I just wanted to explain that not everyone who supports PETA is a left wing whack job.
Posted by Buffy1 on July 18, 2008 at 9:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
As I said, I totally agree that a LOT of the things they do are absurd, BUT b/c they have a number of actors and musicians as spokesman, it really is the only animal rights organization that gets any publicity, which is why I support it. There are any number of other animal rights groups that I support and contribute to, but PETA is good at getting the "drive-by media's" attention (threw that one in for you RW- HUGE Rush Limbaugh fan- listen to him every day from 12-3 at work :)And I am VERY pro-life, which is why I would never give PETA one penny of my money, but I do support them for the few good things they do.
Posted by Buffy1 on July 18, 2008 at 9:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh, RW, if you are as deperessed about "our" nominee McCain (chosen by "independents and Dems b/c of open primaries- he never got over 10% of conservative's votes), check out this website Ann Coulter started: http://getdrunkandvote4mccain.com/