Hipperdeep for Dutch Hippo!
Photo: Bangkok Post
Despite my many years of experience with the Thai and Thailand, I continue to be amazed from time to time. For example, I have been intrigued for years by the curious attention that some animals in Thai zoos receive from their fans.
Most readers no doubt remember the huge fuss created at the Chiang Mai Zoo around the panda Lin Ping, who at one point even got his own TV show…. I myself once, in a moment of weakness, went to see the cute mutt with my Kids and was able to do it firsthand, seeing with my own eyes how thin the line can be between true animal love and complete hysteria…
Yesterday I got one déjà vufeeling when I got the Bangkok Post read. This venerable quality newspaper brought the story of the birthday party organized at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chon Buri in honor of the 55e birthday of Mae Mali, the eldest hippopotamus amphibius or hippopotamus in Thailand. This very popular pachyderm was welcomed by hundreds of fans after she was released from her night shelter, who treated her to a very loud version of the birthday hit 'Happy Birthday', after which the visibly bewildered hippo was led with gentle coercion to a gigantic 'birthday cake' of fruit and vegetables, which the staff had put together with great care and love. After some insistence, she began to eat her birthday present with relish, which, if we had the Bangkok Post may believe, then again led to '…cries of delight from the crowd”....
Until the end of 2018, Mae Mali was one of the absolute star attractions of the beautiful Dusit Zoo in Bangkok. When this zoo was suddenly closed to meet the land hunger of the reigning monarch, Mae Mali was given a new home in Chon Buri on December 18, 2018. Despite her advanced age, the hippo is in excellent health, although the veterinarians treating her wanted to say to the assembled media that in recent years 'which has become slower....
An interesting fact for the readers of Thailand blog may be that Mae Mali is actually called Mother Mali because she was born in 1966 in the Tilburg Zoo. This small-scale zoo had been a wedding present in 1932 from Johan Burgers – the founder of Burgers Zoo – to his daughter Johanna and her Tilburg husband Johan van Glabbeek. On June 8, 1967, this hippo was donated to the Dusit Zoo. The Tilburg Zoo closed its doors in 1973. The stay of this Dutch hippo in the Land of the Smile was certainly fruitful because she successfully gave birth to no less than 14 hippo's….
Lung Jan a beautiful story about the Dutch Hippo. My compliments. I miss the old-fashioned but cozy Dusit Zoo in Bangkok. Do you know when another zoo like this will return to Bangkok?