Don't mess with the Hippos
By carpenter5
@carpenter5 (6782)
United States
July 23, 2007 1:04pm CST
I learned something reading the newspaper this morning.
It seems that in Kansas City, Missouri zoo; two teenaged boys were trying to impress a girl (like that's never happened before.)
They jumped the fence at a hippo exhibit and began to throw rocks and taunt the "dumb beasts" The hippos turned around and charged the boys!
Neither the boys or the animals were hurt, but zoo officials warned that hippos can run faster than humans, despite their huge bulky frame.
They also have the teeth and the intellegence to do bodily harm if their territory is attacked!
They always look so docile playing in the water at the animal parks.!
3 people like this
7 responses
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
23 Jul 07
Any animal when taunted and teased has the capability of retaliating. I would hope that parents would teach their children better however that does not seem to be the case. They are wild animals and should be treated with respect. Would be nice if these kids were made to volunteer at the Zoo so that they would learn better as punishment.
2 people like this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
23 Jul 07
I was thinking somewhere along the lines of cleaning up after these animals now! I have tried to teach my children to respect all that they come in contact with, human or animal. They all love dogs, cats etc...and have a healthy fear of wild animals.
1 person likes this
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
25 Jul 07
Good to know and a fitting job so that they would understand hopefully more about the feelings that animals do have. Thanks for responding to me.
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
26 Jul 07
I used to work for an attorney. One of the things that he would ask for when dealing with Teenagers is that they do community service hours (and usually lots of them) in whatever capacity they had vandalized. It got interesting at times.
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
25 Jul 07
wow. I hadn't heard that. You don't think of them being ferocious. Because most of the time when you see them they look like they're just playing in the water. And then there's the shape of their mouth that makes them look like they are smiling?
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
26 Jul 07
I'd be careful saying that to God. lol
I told my husband when he told me he thought God was calling him to preach that I would follow him anywhere. But not to asked me to live in two towns here in Arkansas. His first two churches were in those cities.
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
24 Sep 07
We were watching "World's dirtiest Jobs" the other night and Mike was in a zoo. Have you ever looked at a hippo's teeth? It looks like there are only like 4 of them, but they are long and razor sharp and they point in 4 different directions!
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
25 Jul 07
I did not know that hippos could run faster than a human. Wow those boys sure took a scary chance by pulling that stunt. Hope the girl was worth it. They could have gotten killed or hurt really bad. That was a pretty dumb move on their part.
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
26 Jul 07
I didn't know they could run that fast either. My kids were on the St. Louis zoo site last night. They are the 2nd largest animals on the earth and can run 30 miles an hour. That's amazing to me.
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
26 Jul 07
I do not do snakes and really don't like lizards and such either. I will wait outside while the kids go looking at all the snakes. even when they are in zoos and on the other side of the glass...it's too close.
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
25 Jul 07
That's what I'm reading now that I've done research. it just didn't seem like the thing that they would do. I've always thought them to be something sweet and cuddly. I know that no wild animal is truly that though. each of them have their own defense mechanism in order to survive.
