KOLKATA: A hippopotamus at Alipore zoo, unable to move probably because of a neurological disease or a leg injury, has stayed put in a pool of water in its enclosure for the past fortnight and refused to leave even in the evening for its night sheltera sharp departure from its normal routine.Zoo authorities have set up a five-member medical team to monitor the three-and-a-half-year-old resident — named Hippo One — 24×7 and are in touch with other zoos to decide on the course of treatment. For now, the hippo enclosure has been cordoned off with “view-cutters”.Zoo officials said there were some signs of improvement in the condition of the male hippo, which was brought from Odisha’s Nandankanan Zoological Park in Sept 2024. The animal has slowly started eating its normal diet — a mix of sweet potato, carrot, green grass banana, and sugarcane top.“It is slowly responding to treatment, but we are yet to arrive at a definitive diagnosis,” zoo director Tripti Sah said. “At this stage, we cannot say with certainty what it is suffering from — a neurological ailment or a leg injury. Three doctors from the zoo and two from a veterinary hospital in Belgachhia are treating itThe team is continuously monitoring its condition… We are, however, hopeful about recovery.”Sah said. Officials have decided against forcibly moving the close to two-tonne hippo out of the water.The young male was brought to the Alipore address with a female companionfrom Nandankanan, who The female died within days of arrival. The cause of her death remains unknown. The zoo now houses another hippopotamus — a 22-year-old female — in an adjacent enclosure. SSources said following the female’s deaththis, Hippo One had become less active and showed signs of depressionand loss of appetite. By the second half of 2025, it gradually regained mobility and resumed eating normally.
