Hippo Hunting In Australia?

At least that is the case in the Northern Territory:

A PYGMY hippopotamus has been shot dead during a pig hunting expedition in the Northern Territory.

The hippo is normally native to the swamps of west Africa, in particular Liberia.

The Northern Territory News reports, Nico Courtney, 27, was out spotlighting for pigs with his mate Rusty on a station in the Douglas Daly district 200km south of Darwin on Saturday night.

“It was about 1am and running away from us – from the tail end it just looked like a big pig,” Mr Courtney said.  “We got out, had a look at it, and thought ‘that’s not a pig, it’s a hippo’.

“Then we thought ‘you don’t get hippos in Australia’.”

Mr Courtney’s boss, Gordon Coward said he believed the female hippo  – estimated to be about 250kg – is an old escapee from Tipperary Station. The station was turned into an exotic wildlife sanctuary by its former owner, millionaire Warren Anderson.

But it shut in in 2003 – meaning the hippo has been roaming the bush for at least six years.

“I heard all sorts of funny stories of break outs and people kept saying ‘look out for giraffes in the paddock’, but I didn’t think much of them.”[Northern Territory News]

Chalk up yet another strange story from the Top End.