Hippo roaming loose for months in southern Mexico
Tyson has become a hit with the locals in Las Chopas, but Mexico's office for environmental protection said they were looking for a way to trap the animal and move him.
A local offers a hippopotamus which locals have named Tyson, a branch to snack on, in Las Chopas, Veracruz state, Mexico, Friday, March 9, 2018.
Authorities say they're worried about a hippopotamus that is roaming loose in a swampy area of southern Mexico.
Nobody knows where the animal came from, but hippos are not native to the country. The hippo appears to have been living in a pair of ponds near Las Chopas, in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.
Mexico's office for environmental protection said on Thursday that experts are looking for the best way to trap and move the three-year-old, 1,320-pound (600 kilogram) mammal. It also said hippos can be aggressive, posing a potential danger to the public and native species.
A man takes a selfie with a hippopotamus that locals have named Tyson, at a pond in Las Chopas, Veracruz state, Mexico, Friday
The hippo was first spotted by local media near a garbage dump in January. Residents of the town have come to love the animal so much they have nicknamed it "Tyson."
Hippos are indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa, but it is not unheard of for drug barons to have their own Zoos.
When drug lord Pablo Escobar was killed in Colombia, a group of hippos escaped the zoo he had there and were reported to be flourishing and roaming about in a Colombian village.
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