“This animal, homely as a steamroller, is the embodiment of salvation. Peace, plenty and contentment lie before us, and a new life with new experiences, new opportunities, new [vigour], new romance, folded in that golden future, when the meadows and the bayous of our southern lands shall swarm with herds of hippopotami.””
H.R. 23621 - The Hippo Bill
Now, this particular tale starts with an aquatic plant known as the water hyacinth. It’s native of the Amazon Basin, and if you’ve ever been down to the bayou you’ve seen these things floating across flat water on thick mats of dark green leaves with beautiful blue and purple petals. The hyacinth was introduced to American waterways in the late 19th century, and can now be found all over the warmer regions of the south, from Texas to Florida and beyond, but that is not a good thing, this plant is an invasive species that will dominate and destroy habitats where it resides.
Over the years there have been a number of different ways that water management and environmental organizations have attempted to control this invasive plant, but back in the early twentieth century there was one that today just seems crazy, and it involved the hippopotamus.
Additional Links From This Episode:
Sources:
“The 1884 Cotton Expo and New Orleans’ first case of World’s Fair fever.” NOLA.com. May 17, 2017. https://www.nola.com/300/.
“December 16, 1884 American Hippo.” Today In History (blog.) December 16, 2017. https://todayinhistory.blog/tag/american-hippo/.
Howard, Clifford. “When the Cow Jumps Over the Moon.” Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, 86. (July-December 1910): 253-255. GoogleBooks.
Miller, Greg. “The Crazy, Ingenious Plan to Bring Hippopotamus Ranching to America.” Wired. December 20, 2013. https://www.wired.com/2013/12/hippopotamus-ranching/.
Mooallem, Jon. “American Hippopotamus: A bracing and eccentric of espionage and hippos.” Atavast, 32. Accessed July 15, 2022. https://magazine.atavist.com/american-hippopotamus/.
The St. Landry Clarion (Opelousas, La.) “To Stock Louisiana With African Animals.” April 2, 1910. Newspapers.com
The Lafourche Comet (Thibodaux, La.) “Congressman Broussard has introduced a resolution.” April 7, 1910. Newspapers.com
The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, La.) “Hippos for the State.” March 31,1910. Newspapers.com
The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, La.) “Bill to Protect Dik Dik.” April 2,1910. Newspapers.com
The Town Talk (Alexandria, La.) “Broussard’s Unique Bill.” March 25, 1910. Newspapers.com
The Town Talk (Alexandria, La.) “New York Sun Don’t Agree.” April 1, 1910. Newspapers.com
The Weekly Caucasion (Shreveport, La.) “Could You Eat a Hippo?” September 8, 1910. Newspapers.com
