News24.com | Eight hippos go missing amid flooding at Free State game farm

Authorities are searching for eight hippos that escaped from the Vierfontein game farm.

Eight hippos escaped from a game farm after floods battered Vierfontein, near the Vaal River, in the Free State on Wednesday.

"During the recent floods, the camps were flooded and destroyed. Hippos went missing after being flooded out from the boma at Bellevue Free State private nature reserve (the game farm)," said Mojalefa Mphapang, spokesperson for the Free State Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (Destea).

The department visited the farm to assess the situation.

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Mphapang said rising water levels were making it difficult to search for the hippos.

"However, the department will continue to monitor the situation and work closely with other stakeholders, including the farm owner, to locate and recapture the animals." 

Communities and farmers in the area were informed and warned against confronting the animals.

Instead, they should alert the department's environmental management inspectors.

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