The Peculiar Plan to Bring Wild Hippos to the USA
The Peculiar Plan to Bring Wild Hippos to the USA
A congressman, a famous army scout, a spy, and an apple expert walk into a House agriculture hearing.
In 1910, Louisiana Congressman Robert F. Broussard had two problems very much on his mind: water hyacinths clogging up his state’s streams and waterways, and a nationwide meat shortage called the Meat Question.
The water hyacinth is thought to be native to the Amazon River basin. Introduced to the United States in 1884 at the Cotton States Exposition in New Orleans, it quickly spread across the southeast. The plant formed thick mats that spread across and took over entire streams and waterways, causing fishing, boating, and sometimes shipping to cease.
That brings us to what newspapers took to calling the Meat Question, which was essentially: How are we going to feed all these people? The country was facing a meat shortage.
The rapidly growing U.S. population, partially fueled by immigration, was outpacing meat production, primarily beef, and consequently, meat prices were rising. Other factors behind the shortage were ranchers overgrazing pastureland and the outbreak of two cattle diseases.
From Hungry America and the African Solution: How Hippopotami Nearly Fed America in the Vulcan Historical Review:
“Two of the main diseases that plagued the cattle community were anthrax (referred to as splenic fever) and Texas fever. These two diseases alone were enough to have an impact on the farming community.”
In addition, many believed that beef producers, referred to as the Beef Trust, were restricting supply to drive prices higher. Thus, newspapers ran headlines like:
"Will the Meat Trust Force Us To This!" Spokane Press, WA
"Hippopotamus Meat is Expected to Humble the Beef Trust" New York Tribune
"Relief From Africa" Daily Arizona Silver Belt
"Could You Eat a Hippo?" Fort Benton River Press, MT
"How Will You Have Your Hippo?" Grand Forks Evening Times, ND
Broussard thought he had hit upon a way to solve both problems with one stroke. Import hippopotami from Africa and set them loose in the Louisiana bayous. The hippos would eat the hyacinth, and then Americans would eat the hippos.
It’s a time-honored scientific principle to get control of an invasive plant species that became a colossal problem because you knew almost nothing about it; introduce an animal species you know nearly nothing about. I can’t remember whether Benjamin Franklin or Nikola Tesla said that. It might have been Marie Curie; let me get back to you.
The Hippo Bill
In March 1910, Broussard introduced bill H.R. 23261, which became known as the American Hippo bill. It would appropriate $250,000 (about $8.2 million today) for the importation of useful new animals into the United States.
“I believe that in the South, we have the greatest undeveloped resources the country has left, centering in the vast watercourses and the bayous, lakes, and ponds that lie between them,” Broussard told the New York Tribune.
"There are several animals that would thrive there. Foremost are the hippopotamus and the water buffalo. I think that by utilizing these we can easily add 1,000,000 tons of meat each year to our supply. The food (water hyacinth) for the hippopotamus is going to waste down there; it is almost ruining the river villages by stopping up the streams and ponds.”
To sell this idea to the House Committee on Agriculture, Broussard brought in two heavy hitters with experience in Africa to testify: Frederick Russell Burnham and Fritz Duquesne. Both men had come to Broussard’s attention through their interactions with former president Theodore Roosevelt. While each man was known for exceptional bushcraft, hunting skills, and military service, they had very different reputations. Fun fact: they had fought on opposite sides during the Second Boer War.
Burnham was an American scout and world-traveling adventurer. Many believe that he was the model for the character Indiana Jones. Burnham was made a major in the British army by King Edward VII who also invested him into the Companions of the Distinguished Service Order in recognition of his heroism.
Duquesne was a South African Boer, soldier, big-game hunter, journalist, and spy. He was arrested in New York in 1917 for insurance fraud. In 1941, Duquesne was arrested by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for running a massive German spy during World War II.
William Newton “W. N.” Irwin, a researcher for the Bureau of Plant Industry at USDA, also testified. He was an apple expert. I have no idea if Broussard invited him or if he got there via an unlocked side window, but he appears to have been even more enthusiastic about importing African animals than Burnham and Duquesne.
Broussard and company were not just planning to introduce hippos to the Gulf Coast; they also had plans to transplant a variety of African animals across the country. From an interview Irwin gave to the Washington Post on November 07, 1909:
"I hope to live long enough to see huge herds of these broad-backed beasts wallowing in the Southern marshes and rivers fattening on the millions of tons of food which await their arrival; to see great droves of the white rhinoceros (which is not quarrelsome like his black brother) roaming over the semiarid desert wastes, fattening on the sparse herbage which these lands offer; to see herds of the delicate giraffe-the flesh of which is the purest and the sweetest of any known animal, browsing on the buds and shoots of young trees in preparation for the butchers' blocks; see the great African buffalo saved, and to see the tiny antelopes of all species which are now being wiped out in Africa brought here and made important members of farmers' barnyard flocks,” Irwin said.
These gentlemen were unsuccessful in their quest to get hippos and other African species on the ground in America. There are multiple theories as to why the bill didn’t become law. Two cited by Dennis in Hungry America and the African Solution are that some lawmakers felt that former President Roosevelt and his wealthy friends just wanted to bring the animals to America so they could hunt them here or that the cost of importing the animals was just too high.
There was also some doubt that the American public would be comfortable eating hippo meat. Several newspapers, including the New York Times, referred to hippo meat as “lake cow bacon,” which, as catchy as it was, doesn’t appear to have sold the idea to the general public. Hippo - It’s what's for dinner!
Hippos and Hyacinth and Environmental Catastrophes
Whatever the reason, Congress decided not to bring hippos, rhinos, zebras, giraffes, or Cape buffalo to a town near you. Take just a moment to breathe a sigh of relief over the potential ecological bullets dodged that day. Plus, we didn’t have to put up rhino crossing signs. I do wonder how Cape buffalo would have gotten on with feral hogs, though.
Let’s look at just the plan to introduce hippos to Louisiana and discuss some of the pitfalls. In this section, I’ll be drawing heavily from Salon’s The True Story of When Congress Almost Released Wild Hippos into the Louisiana Bayou by Matthew Rozsa.
Hippos vs. the Bayou
Like the members of the chart-topping 1960s rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, hippos were not “Born on the Bayou.” And likely would not have thrived in this new habitat. From the Salon article:
"Despite the assurances of the three colorful 'experts' brought in to testify to Congress at the hearing in 1910, it's not at all clear to me that hippos would thrive along the Gulf Coast," Michael Massimi, Invasive Species and Marine Programs Coordinator at the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, Thibodaux, LA, told Salon by email.”
“Massimi pointed out that … Africa is much warmer than Louisiana, "I think winters in coastal Louisiana might be a bit cold for them." In addition, the delta region does not have the hard ground found in the areas of Africa where hippopotamuses flourish, and indeed, "much of the area would be like quicksand to a hippo."
Hippos vs. Humans
Duquesne testified that hippos were docile, manageable creatures. “The animal can be led; you can feed it on a milk bottle, like a baby. It is absolutely not dangerous. … where the crocodiles have been exterminated, the hippopotamus is as tame as a common garden cow.”
In fact, the hippo is the most dangerous animal in Africa. From a BBC Wildlife webpage:
“The hippopotamus is a very aggressive wild creature and is the deadliest large land mammal on the planet. It is estimated that hippo attacks kill 500 people each year in Africa. It is not only their size and weight that makes them dangerous, but also their very sharp teeth!”
Jonathan Shurin, a University of California-San Diego (UCSD) biologist, explained the hippo’s attitude toward humans this way in a San Diego Union-Tribune article.
“You know how people say about wild animals, ‘if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you,’ and ‘they’re more afraid of you than you are of them’?” said Shurin. “Neither is true of hippos.”
Hippos are also much faster than most people realize, reaching speeds of 20 mph (32 kph) on land. Fun fact: Usain Bolt could outrun a hippo. His average speed over 100 meters is 23.35 mph (38 kph).
That brings us to the elephant in the room: size. Male hippos, on average, weigh around 3,300 lb (1,480 kg), and females 3,000 lb (1,365 kg). For comparison, a Black Angus bull weighs between 1850-2300 lb (840-1045 kg), and the cows weigh 1150-1250 lb (520-565 kg). A reminder: a Ford F-250 Superduty pickup truck weighs about 6,000 lbs (2,700 kg). Lasso one of these little “dogies,” and you better have a titanium saddle horn and be riding a tank.
Hippos vs. Hyacinth
That brings us to the question we began with: would these hungry, hungry hippos have solved the water hyacinth problem? Probably not; it turns out that hippos do most of their feeding on land. Again, from Salon:
"Hippos probably would not have put a dent in the water hyacinth problem," Massimi told Salon. "Their habit is to spend the sunlight hours in the water but come out of the water at night to graze on land. The bulk of their diet is terrestrial grasses. The water hyacinth is an invasive pest plant in Africa too, and the hippos only occasionally munch on it. So the other half of the very premise of bringing them here in the first place was faulty."
Finally, there’s the poop problem. One hippo can produce up to 13 pounds of waste each day, which would likely promote more water plant growth. Scientists have been studying the impact of hippos living near what used to be drug lord Pablo Escobar’s estate in Colombia. Escobar, who was shot and killed by Columbian police in 1993, bought four hippos for his menagerie. They were too dangerous to move, so they left in the wild. By 2020, their numbers grew to 65 and 80.
From Atlas Obscura:
“The hippopotamus is native to sub-Saharan Africa and grazes on land but spends most of its life in water and treats rivers and lakes as big toilets. Each year, a single hippo can dump more than 1,650 pounds of carbon and other nutrients into the water—and it does so mainly by pooping, says Jonathan Shurin, an ecologist at the University of California, San Diego.”
Epilogue
The Meat Question was answered by better pastureland practices, feedlots and better control of the ticks that caused Texas fever, and vaccination against Splenic Fever.
How did they get the water hyacinth under control? Well, they’re still working on that one. Current control methods include mechanical removal using specially designed boats and herbicides like 2,4-D and glyphosate. The plant’s natural enemies, including species of weevils and beetles, have also been used.
Louisiana is currently struggling with two invasive animal species: nutria, introduced in the 1930s for the fur trade, and more recently, feral hogs.
In April 2018, it was estimated that approximately 16,424 acres of Louisiana wetlands were impacted by nutria. Feral hogs are found in all 64 parishes, and the state’s feral hog population is estimated at 700,000.
Sources
Jones, Terry L. 2020. Louisiana Pastimes: Ancient Fishing Methods, the Hippo Bill, a Squirrel Stampede and Other Tales. Charleston SC: The History Press.
The Crazy Plan to Raise Hippos for Food in the USA
American Hippo Bill Committee Testimony March 24, 1910
Special thanks to commonplacefacts.com for obtaining and posting the House Agriculture Committee testimony.
Washington Post, DC, Sunday, November 07, 1909, Page 10, “Hippopotamus: The solution of our Food Famine Problems in America”
New-York Tribune, Sunday, April 17, 1910, Page 60, “Hippopotamus Meat is Expected to Humble the Beef Trust”
San Diego Union-Tribune, Sunday, February 9, 2020, “Chasing Colombia’s cocaine hippos” by Peter Rowe
Atlas Obscura: Pablo Escobar’s Hippo Herd Is Treating Colombia’s Lakes Like One Big Toilet
FIU News: Beloved Colombian Hippos Pose Environmental Dilemma by Angela Nicoletti
Wikipedia: American Hippo Bill
LSU Ag Center Water Hyacinth Issue webpage
California WaterBlog: Exotic animals deployed as Delta ‘weed whackers’
I found several newspaper articles that referenced this California WaterBlog article apparently without reading it in its entirety, clicking through the links, or taking note of the date. I include it for your amusement.
