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South Downs deny plans to reintroduce hippos



South Downs deny plans to reintroduce hippos

April 1, 2015

The South Downs has today, 1 April 2015, quashed rumours that hippos are about to be reintroduced into its protected landscapes. The announcement comes the day after the National Park’s fifth birthday and follows speculation that the large herbivores, known to have lived in the south of England some 110,000 years ago, might be brought back to graze rare chalk grassland.

Chalk grassland is a very diverse and extremely rare habitat which can only exist when it is grazed. Over the past three years more than 1,000 ha of chalk grassland has been restored through the South Downs Way Ahead Nature Improvement Scheme – with the grazing carried out by sheep, cattle and ponies.

However some people have suggested that extensive work to restore dew ponds close to areas of chalk grassland, carried out by the South Downs Volunteer Rangers, might have another purpose. Dew ponds are an iconic and much-loved feature of the chalk hills – wetland havens for wildlife, providing drinking and bathing water for birds, and a home for dragonflies, damselflies and other aquatic invertebrates. The National Park maintains that they would not be suitable homes for hippos.

Andrew Lee, Director of Strategy and Partnerships for the South Downs National Park Authority, said:

“What a ridiculous idea. Yes, we have successfully re-introduced water voles to the river Meon and they are now thriving. But a 120 gram vole is very different to a 1.5 ton hippo. I don’t think people have really thought this through.

“Our volunteers and local communities have spent considerable time and energy restoring a number of dew ponds on the hill tops over the past five years and we’re not about to let some hippos come and trample all over their work.”

Tour operators are alleged to have begun to plan safaris to see the South Downs’ ‘Big five at five years’ – which would take in water voles, barn owls, Duke of Burgundy butterflies, natterjack toads and, of course, the new hippos.

The National Park also denies that their ambition to gain International Dark Skies Reserve Status for South Downs might benefit these nocturnal animals.