Residents of Grassy Park—a suburban neighborhood in Cape Town, South Africa—sheltered in place on Sunday while a hippopotamus roamed the quiet streets. The massive beast was on the lam from the nearby Rondevlei Nature Reserve.
"My 74-year-old mom watched from inside the house, very scared, as the hippo came straight for our door," said Ashraff Schwartz. "It then turned around and ran up the road, but before then it broke my wall as it jumped over it. Hippos are dangerous animals and it could have killed someone. The nature reserve will have to put up stronger fencing for our safety."
According to deputy mayor Eddie Andrews, the hippo was freaked out from a fight it had with a dominant male hippo in the preserve and busted through the fence to flee.
"The City can confirm that the hippo is doing well, and that no incidents related to his less than an hour-long escape have been reported," Andrews told DFA.
Previously: Man recalls the time he was swallowed by a hippopotamus
