re: Today I Learned: Hippos were almost released to Louisiana bayous

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There once was a hippo living in Cross Lake in Shreveport.

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Cross Lake hippo, a historically-documented, “strange but true” tale that dates back to the mid-1920s, not the late 1960s. According to the fantastic book, Shreveport, by the late historian Eric Brock, a hermit living on Cross Lake purchased a baby hippopotamus and raised it in a secluded cove. The hermit’s plan was to raise the hippo, which he’d purchased for $25, and sell it to a zoo for a profit.

A fisherman named Jake Carnahan nearly spoiled that plan when, while fishing in June 1928, he spotted “a huge beast, blowing water from its nostrils.” Word quickly spread, and the “beast” was hunted and captured. If you’d like to know how the saga of the Cross Lake hippo ends, you’ll just have to buy the book. Let’s just say that the hippo ends up being sold to a well-known zoo, netting a tidy profit for the hermit and causing anglers on Cross Lake to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

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THE PRESENCE OF THE PAST ERIC J. BROCK This is an unusual but true story that occurred some 70 years ago in Shreveport. Actually, it occurred on Cross Lake, which was then outside the city limits (the lake was incorporated into Shreveport in 1963). It is the story of a hippopotamus that made its home in the lake an unlikely happenstance indeed, but, as it is said, truth is stranger than fiction. Once upon a time, in the mid 1920s there lived an old man, a hermit, on a finger of land that jutted out into Cross Lake's, northwest reaches. There, on an almost inaccessible piece of real estate covered with moss-covered trees, he had built a little cabin for himself. The man hunted and fished and had little contact with anyone else in the world. Perfectly content was he to dwell alone among the frogs and birds and fishes of the lake. Actually, however, the man whose name is now forgotten did not live entirely alone. He had a most unusual pet, a pet no one knew about except himself until one day in June, 1928 when a fisherman named Jake Carna-han was fishing in the channel off Cross Lake's Twin Islands. As Mr. Car-nahan sat there in his boat, a huge beast arose from the water blowing water from its nostrils and letting out a roar.

The Cross Lake Hippopotamus Mr. Carnahan did not immediately recognize the animal as a hippo, since hippos are certainly not indigenous to Cross Lake, and so did not stop to consider that hippos are herbivores and thus not a threat to humans. So he did what any sensible person would do: He hauled anchor and took off. No one believed Mr. Carnahan at first. But then, suddenly, more and more fishermen began to see a strange beast in the lake. Stories about the "Cross Lake Monster" began to circulate and were even picked up by the press. It seemed that Shreveport suddenly had its own Loch Ness-type situation. Finally, however, the "monster" was captured and the rumors Were put to rest. The hippo turned out to be a good natured fellow and much smaller than the stories of some of the witnesses to Cross Lake's own sea monster would have had one believe. With his capture, which came in the fall of 1928, also came the tale of how a hippopotamus ended up living on Cross Lake. It might be added that he lived quite happily on Cross Lake, too. After all, his little inlet was quite secluded and there were plenty of delicious lily pads and other water vegetation to be eaten. The lake provided a regular hippo's buffet. Mr. Hippo's mistake was a natural-enough one. Being the only hippopotamus in the lake, he came to consider the entire place his own territory and, venturing out farther into the waters (perhaps in search of other hippos and greener lily pads) he made nimself conspicuous to fishermen, boaters, and other humans with whom he shared his watery domain. Well, in any case, the hippo (his name, like that of his friend the old man, remains anonymous) had come to the lake a couple of years previous as a baby. The old man had purchased him for $25 from someone who claimed he was looking for a good home for his baby hippopotamus. Now in most people, such a statement would be a tipoff that something was amiss somewhere, but the old fellow paid the $25 and did indeed provide the hippo a good home. ; As it was, the hippo baby had been stolen from a traveling circus. The. old fellow, if he knew, did not care. His idea was to keep the hippo around .-for a while (the care and feeding of hippos is simple when you live on a lake), Tjet him grow big, then sell him to a zoo for a hefty profit. When the hippo was captured the old man emerged from his seclusion and the whole story came out. In the end the hippo described 4n one document as "young, healthy, unusually domesticated" was sold fijr a Mr. A.W. Barnaby and Son, dealersin exotic animals. They, in turn, sold iwrn to a large mid western zoo for $1,250. Presumably he lived out his life';i which may have lasted into the 1960s or later, considering the lifespans of hippopotami happily dwelling among others of his own kind. One wonders, however, if he ever thought about his youth on Cross Lake. A few months after the hippo was removed, the old man's cabin was destroyed in a forest fire that ravaged. a portion of the lake's north shore. He moved out of the area and that was the last Shreveport heard of him or of the gentle "monster" of Cross Lake.' ; Eric J. Brock is a Shreveport historian.

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We could save the rhinos by bringing some to the U.S.

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You've got it right, yogagirl. There are two Northern rhinos left, but they're both female.

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Just my opinion, but I think reintroducing the Jaguar to Louisiana might beneficial in culling the wild hog population.

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That would have been an absolute disaster.

I'm surprised Louisiana didn't find a way to make it happen.

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Not like they'd be a difficult to extinguish invasive species.

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The Jaguar is by far the most feared animal in the Amazon. You think reintroducing the Jaguar back to LA would be a good idea? ?

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