Abandoned By Her Mother, Rescue Hippo Enjoys Her Tea, Then Takes A Nap With Her New Friends

Although he is now an adult hippo, when Tonie and Shirley Joubert rescued Jessica, he was just a small newborn calf. The devastating floods that swept through South Africa in 2000 caused the newborn hippo to move away from his mother. The couple found him on his property, on the banks of the Blyde River, weak and exhausted. They saved the boy and, fortunately, Tonie's knowledge as a game ranger allowed them to provide a proper formula to feed her. The hungry child greedily accepted the bottle and never prospered well. These days, he still likes a bottle as a surprise, but now it is full of Rooibos ice tea instead of formula.