A few years ago, a man wanted to go against nature. However, she was relentless with him.
For various reasons, Mr. Els, as one of the protagonists of this story was known, stood out from the rest. So much so that he adopted a hippopotamus despite the warnings of his own and strangers.
The events go back two decades, when this South African (41 years old) went against all odds, forgetting the nature and instinctive power of his animals, which are characterized by being free and, some, extremely dangerous to human beings.
Even so, his farm was full of both love and species that disagreed with the rules of natural coexistence. On occasion, the creature with which he became inseparable issued warning signals that Marius Els ignored, paying an enormous price for it.
It is not a unique fact. Various news items, worldwide, have exposed the consequences of an unnatural binomial, but with a repetitive pattern.
The Man and the Hippopotamus: The Beginning of the End
In 2005, the story of Els and his hippo was just beginning. The wealthy farmer would have bought a small specimen only 5 months old, according to the British media Daily Mail. However, other versions claim that she rescued him from an overflowing river.
He took it to his 400-acre (more than 160 hectares) farm in Klerksdorp, in a rural area in northwestern South Africa. In that place, another 20 animal species already inhabited, among them, some giraffes. However, his love for his new friend was different from that of the rest of the members of this private zoo.
The hippopotamus calf was named Humphrey and received special treatment, to the point of having its own artificial lake. Els wanted to make him feel at home. However, she wasn’t and it would be a matter of time before she would be exposed.
Marius Els, then 35 years old, was not capable of analyzing the natural imbalance that his actions had, or their relationship with those of the animal kingdom. The young man who adopted a hippopotamus later opened up about it.
“They think that you can only have a relationship with dogs, cats and domestic animals, but I have a relationship with the most dangerous animal in Africa”in relation to his new friend who grew, by leaps and bounds, with the passing of the months.
He did not exaggerate them. It is estimated that hippos kill about 500 people each year, many more than the feared lions with 100 kills; or sharks, with no more than 10 in the same period, according to the Veracruzana University of Mexico.
The farmer who adopted a hippo: “He’s like a son to me”
In January 2011, a happy Marius Els was photographed with his friend Humphrey. He was up on the back of the giant animal. It had been 6 years since he was adopted and he rode him, in a smooth gait.
“If he decides to throw me off, then he throws me like a horse. My friends won’t even go near him.”, he told an interviewer that he came to his property so as not to lose any detail of the story of the man who adopted a hippopotamus. Els, was enthusiastic to reveal them.
“Humphrey is like a son to me, he is like a human. There is a relationship between me and Humphrey and that’s what some people don’t understand.”said the former South African Army major, who had a wife, at the time.
However, the fact that people did not understand it or that those close to him warned him of the danger of said coexistence, he exposed compelling reasons -literally- since the animal had, at 6 years of age, 1,200 kilos.
On one occasion, a man and his 7-year-old grandson who were in a canoe had to climb a tree in an emergency. Humphrey lunged at them. Els came to the rescue with an apple, assuring that the animal was hungry.
The warning signal, from the instinct of the huge specimen, was clear. However, her caretaker did not understand her.
The man who adopted a hippo and his tragic end
Approximately 10 months have passed since Els rode his hippo Humphrey for the photograph.
One Saturday morning in November, tragedy struck. Humphrey lunged at the man who considered him his son and bit him repeatedly. a jaw capable of exceeding 1800 pounds of pressure per square inch (PSI)almost twice the size of a Bengal tiger.
Marius Els had no chance to get away. His body was found several hours later in the artificial lagoon he built for Humphrey.
“Paramedics rushed to the scene and discovered that the man had been bitten multiple times by the animal and had also been submerged in the river for an unknown period.”recounted Jeffrey Wicks, spokesman for the private ambulance services that came to the scene.
The story of the man who adopted a hippopotamus was reduced to a deadly attack that again summoned the British press. But this time to talk about the consequences of that disparate relationship.
Little is known about the fate of the specimen, contrary to the loudness of the news of what happened to what was considered its adoptive father.
From time to time, British media, such as Mirror, remember the story of Els and Humphrey with an unhappy ending. As if remembering that, although men have free will, animals have an instinct superior to any human desire to retain them.
