No zoo for young hippos

On February 28, we shared on this blog a reflection about the tragic death of Gustavito, the hippo in the San Salvador zoo, who was allegedly the victim of a vicious attack by unknown assailants.  

But now it appears that this is a different type of tragedy.   From the Huffington Post:

[A]fter a post-mortem exam, prosecutors are telling a different story, the BBC reported Saturday.

State prosecutor Mario Salazar said there were no puncture wounds on Gustivato’s body. Instead, investigators determined that the hippo died from pulmonary hemorrhaging, meaning bleeding inside the lungs.

Culture minister Silvia Elena Regalado said officials are still not totally ruling out an attack, since the stress of such an event could have induced medical issues, the AFP news agency reports.

But Salazar’s team is suggesting the bleeding was caused by insufficient care for Gustavito on the part of the zoo. There are no surveillance cameras focused on the hippo’s enclosure, making it difficult to determine if an attack took place.