Chonburi – Thousands of excited fans went into mass to a Thai zoo on Thursday to celebrate Moo Deng’s first birthday, the adorable pigmeo hippopotamus that has become a sensation on social networks.
The Khao Kheow open zoo was filled with Moo Deng fans in the first four days of activities that mark the birthday of the hippo. Children under 12 can enter the zoo, which is about two hours by car in the capital, Bangkok, for free throughout the show.
Many of Moo Deng fans flew kilometers to see her.
Among them was Molly Swindall, who traveled from New York for celebrations. He was seen delivering a food tray to a caregiver of the Zoo for the Breakfast of Moo Deng, which the hippo breeding and his mother Jona quickly devoured.
“Everything I was seeing began to be Moo Deng and loved her a lot and I decided, you know what, I have three or four days off of work,” said Swindall, “I can make it work to fly to Thailand. I will only be there for about 30 hours, but that is enough to go see Moo Deng. And that is exactly what I did.”
On Thursday afternoon, the number of visitors reached 12,000, said Zoological director Narongwit Chodchoy. Despite the noise of the visitors who called her to get her attention, Moo Deng seemed calm while she took a dip in a pond in her enclosure.
Fans took photos of hippopotamus breeding in their cameras or cell phones and sang “happy birthday” when their birthday cake, made of a variety of fruits and vegetables, was placed near the pond.
“Moo Deng is my pill of happiness, and she is my energy pill, my healing pill. She is my vitamin!”, Said Thea Chavez, who flew from Houston, Texas.
Another fan of neighbor Malaysia, Jennifer Tang, bowed to the enclosure to take photos.
“She makes me happy. Every time I’m stressed at work, I take photos of Moo Deng,” Tang said. “So all my office knows that I am here … they let me take a week off.”
The zoo made online auctions to celebrate Moo Deng’s birthday, with photos, fingerprints and a food container on offer to raise funds for all animals under their care.
They also made an auction for the honor of sponsoring their birthday cake, which was sold per 100,000 Baht ($ 3,065).
Moo Deng jumped to stardom shortly after his birth, largely thanks to his caregiver Atthapon Nundee, who shared adorable photos and videos of hippopotamus breeding on social networks. Atthapon keeps Moo Deng fans updated with moments of her twisting while he tries to wash her, biting him while he tries to play or closing his eyes calmly while he rubs his belly.
Moo Deng, which literally means “inflatable pig” in Thai, is a type of meatball. The name was chosen by fans through a survey on social networks. It coincides with the names of their other brothers: Moo Toon (stoofado pork) and Moo Waan (sweet pork). There is also a common hippo in the zoo called Kha Moo (stoopada pork leg).
The open zoo Khao Kheow saw visitors peaks shortly after the birth of Moo Deng. But Narongwit said the number of visitors to the zoo has decreased a bit from the apogee of the fame of Moo Deng. He said that the zoo has had about 2,000 visitors during a working day and around 5,000 during the weekends in recent months, approximately half of the figures he saw at its maximum point.
“Moo Deng is a representative of all wild animals and helps everyone to understand the role of zoos,” Narongwit told The Associated Press. “She speaks for all almost extinct animals and draws people’s attention to their conservation.”
The zoo is found in 800 hectares (almost 2,000 acres) of land and houses more than 2,000 animals.
Executing breeding programs for many endangered species, including pigmeo hypopotamus. The species is originally from West Africa, where it is threatened by poaching and habitat loss. Only 2,000 and 3,000 remain in the wild.