City weighs option to bring in new male following death of Rondevlei hippo, Brutus

INITIAL findings of a preliminary postmortem on Brutus, Rondevlei's first and famous hippo, indicate a natural, age-related cause of death.

- STAFF REPORTER

The City confirmed Brutus was found dead at the age of 47 years last week.

Brutus arrived at Rondevlei in November 1981, and was the first hippo to be reintroduced into the Western Cape in 300 years. He was still producing offspring until recently.

Staff from the False Bay Nature Reserve were busy with routine patrols when they discovered the dead hippo bull in the Rondevlei section of the reserve on Thursday morning.

The bull was removed from the vlei, and on Friday, the Biodiversity Management Branch's veterinarian conducted an autopsy. It was thereafter established that the dead hippo was Brutus.