By Tim Binnall
Residents of a South African community were forced to shelter in place after a hippopotamus managed to escape a neighboring nature reserve and took to the streets. According to a local media report, the wild incident occurred early Saturday morning in the Cape Town suburb of Grassy Park. During a skirmish between two hippos at the Rondevlei Nature Reserve, one of the monstrous creatures attempted to flee the fracas and, in doing so, barreled through a fence to freedom. The enormous animal subsequently set off on something of an adventure, strolling down the streets of Grassy Park to the uneasiness of people living in the community.
"My 74-year-old mom watched from inside the house, very scared, as the hippo came straight for our door," resident Ashraff Schwartz recalled, "it then turned around and ran up the road, but before then it broke my wall as it jumped over it." Fortunately, wildlife officials responded to the worrisome situation in rapid fashion and managed to eventually corral the creature after about an hour of trying to isolate the dangerous denizen of the nature reserve. Noting that the fence that fell to the hippo during its escape was newly built, residents are understandably calling for the barrier to be strengthened in order to prevent future incidents wherein the sizable animals make a break for it.