if you were to travel down the rio magdalena  just north of the colombian capital of bogota  

you might come across some rather out of place  wildlife a herd of african hippopotamuses the herd  

which now numbers nearly a hundred is descended  from four individuals imported in the 1980s by  

notorious drug lord pablo escobar and kept in  a private zoo on his estate in puerto triompho  

when escobar was killed in 1993 the hippos escaped  into the surrounding rivers and multiplied and  

multiplied and multiplied the enormous invasive  species then proceeded to wreak havoc on the local  

ecosystem destroying local plant life disrupting  the habitat of native animals like crocodiles and  

manatees and killing fish with copious amounts  of noxious feces if left unchecked by alder's  

fear the population could reach a thousand by 2035  causing untold environmental damage but as bizarre  

as this environmental crisis might seem the exact  same scenario might very well have played out in  

the united states more than 100 years ago thanks  to one of the strangest bills in u.s congressional  

history this is the wild and unlikely story of  how the u.s government tried to introduce hippo  

ranching to america america's long forgotten plan  to introduce africa's river horses to the swamps  

and buyers of louisiana was the brainchild of one  frederick russell burnham and so absurdly rugged  

competent and accomplished that his life reads  more like an adventure novel than actual history  

born in 1861 in minnesota by age 14 burnham had  learned all the necessary skills to become a  

military scout a combination of spy tracker and  saboteur with no equivalent in modern warfare  

to this end he taught himself to ride shoot  left-handed on horseback fight hand to hand  

track live off the land and overcome extremes  of heat cold and hunger his exploits during the  

apache wars at the end of the 19th century earned  him a reputation for near supernatural discipline  

self-sufficiency and familiarity with the land  leading to him being dubbed king of the scouts  

and the most complete human being who ever  lived as journalist richard harding davis wrote  

he has trained himself to endure the  most appalling fatigues hunger thirst  

and wounds has subdued the brain to infinite  patience has learned to force every nerve in  

his body to absolute obedience to still even the  beating of his heart he reads the face of nature  

as you read your morning paper his life is an  endless chain of impossible achievements in  

1893 having run out of wars to fight in north  america burnham sailed for south africa and  

joined the british army serving in the first  and second matabele wars in 1894 and 1896 and  

the second anglo-bar war from to 1899-1902 during  this period burnham also found the time to travel  

to alaska to participate in the klondike gold  rush though to his great disappointment this  

prevented him from biting in the spanish-american  war in south africa burnham once again earned a  

reputation for ruggedness and cunning his many  daring exploits including hiding in an aardvark  

borough for two days while observing an enemy  camp floating down a river disguised as a cow  

carcass and evading an enemy patrol despite being  crushed by his horse so impressed was one of his  

commanders major general robert baden-powell that  he later claimed to have founded the boy scouts  

in the hopes of raising a generation of young men  as competent as burnham and if that wasn't badass  

enough nearly a century later burnham would serve  as one of the main inspirations for the character  

of indiana jones in 1910 burnham's intimate  knowledge of the african wilderness convinced him  

that hippos were the ideal solution to a major  crisis then gripping the united states a severe  

shortage of meat in the early 20th century the  price of beef began to skyrocket as rangelands  

became depleted by overgrazing in the past the  solution had simply been to expand further west  

but by this time the frontier had long since  been closed there simply wasn't anywhere left  

to expand to at the same time the mass migration  of americans from the countryside into cities  

along with massive waves of foreign immigration  caused a surge in demand for meat straining the  

meat packing industry to its breaking point the  only solution and he concluded was to somehow make  

productive lands which were unsuitable for cattle  ranching and that's where the hippos came in on  

september 19th 1910 frederick burnham arrived at  the maryland hotel in pasadena and presented his  

ideas before the second annual convention of  the humane association of california burnham's  

imaginative plan was to import thousands of edible  african mammals including antelopes and giraffes  

and released them onto the plains of the american  southwest creating a new and hearty source of  

fresh meat for the growing american population  but the boldest part of burnham's scheme involved  

introducing hippopotamuses into the swamps and  bios of the american gulf coast converting what  

had once been agriculturally unproductive land  into a major source of protein an official from  

the u.s department of agriculture had already  surveyed the region including in his report that  

the buyers are wildly dismal and forbidding the  silence strikes one with an almost unforgettable  

horror nonetheless hippopotamus would find no  difficulty living in louisiana the official  

went on to estimate that even a small herd of  hippos released into the buyers of louisiana  

florida and mississippi would quickly grow  to yield nearly a million tons of meat a year  

furthermore as hippos were too large and unruly to  transport to the stockyards of chicago the scheme  

would force the construction of multiple regional  slaughterhouses finally breaking that city's  

long-held monopoly over the american meat packing  industry surprisingly burnham's wild scheme  

attracted considerable public and governmental  support particularly from louisiana congressman  

robert brossard who saw it as an equally elegant  solution to another ecological crisis america's  

invasion by the water hyacinth plant native to  the rivers of south america water hyacinth was  

introduced to the united states at the 1884  louisiana world cotton centennial exposition  

allegedly in the form of ornamental flowers handed  out by the japanese delegation the plant which  

grows rapidly into dense floating mats spread like  wildfire throughout the american southeast choking  

rivers and lakes killing fish and rendering entire  waterways unnavigable efforts to curb the spread  

using saltwater spray herbicides and even spraying  the plants with oil and setting them on fire all  

failed miserably but burnham's hippo scheme seemed  at last to offer a practical solution in addition  

to solving the meat crisis the voracious beasts  would also keep the aggressive invasive species in  

check effectively killing two birds with one stone  burnham also saw the scheme as an opportunity  

for the nation to re-evaluate its destructive  approach to agriculture and conservation and find  

a better way to move forward urging his pasadena  audience to quote not make the same mistakes again  

this nation has reached a stage in its development  where we should take stock of our assets and make  

full use of them in an intelligent manner so  much of the continent has been left lonely  

silent devoid of life in any useful form and the  hour of time is at hand when we can make use of it  

it is within our power to people it with useful  and beautiful animals while some commentators  

criticize the notion of hippo ranching as too  outlandish and foreign for american tastes  

burnham was quick to point out that most common  animals eaten by americans cattle pigs goats sheep  

and poultry were all originally foreign species  imported by european settlers only the passage of  

time has made them appear commonplace furthermore  plenty of equally exotic animals had already  

been imported into the country in 1885 englishman  george corson started an ostrich farm in pasadena  

and made a fortune selling ostrich feathers for  ladies hats and other accessories while in the  

1850s secretary of war and future president of  the confederacy jefferson davis tried to introduce  

african camels to replace cavalry horses in the  american southwest the animals proved ideally  

suited to the terrain and only ridicule from older  cavalrymen prevented the camel core from taking  

off the press hardly agreed with burnham with an  editorial in the washington post arguing proposals  

which first may look odd and crimerical to the  mass of our readers will be seen to be matter  

of fact propositions when they become familiar  if we've learned to swallow raw oysters and suck  

the meat out of crabs why can't we also embrace  that plump and pulcontigerous beast which has  

a smile like an old-fashioned fireplace the new  york times extolled the virtues of the so-called  

lake cow bacon while lippencott's monthly magazine  was almost rapturous in its praise of the scheme  

writing of the hippo this animal only as a  steamroller is the embodiment of salvation  

peace plenty and contentment lie before us and a  new life with new experiences new opportunities  

new visit new romance folded in that golden future  when the meadows and the buyers of our southern  

lands shall swarm with herds of hippopotami  it's worth pointing out for any pedants in  

the audience that being derived from greek the  plural of hippopotamus is hippopotamuses and not  

hippopotami the same actually goes for octopus so  now you know and now back to our story to promote  

his scheme burnham formed a lobby group called new  food supply society with the help from congressman  

broussard the group drafted house resolution h.r  23261 popularly known as the hippo bill which  

sought to appropriate 250 000 in congressional  funds for the importation of useful animals on  

march 24 1910 burnham was invited to present his  ideas before the house committee on agriculture  

testifying alongside burnham with two men  broussard had invited to act as expert witnesses  

the first was william newton irvin a fruit expert  from the u.s department of agriculture's bureau of  

plant industry a classic balthan character irwin  had a penchant for championing ideas that were  

once eccentric and strangely logical among his  pet projects was a crusade to convert americans  

from eating chicken eggs to eating turkey eggs  which he argued were larger richer more nutritious  

and had a longer shelf life owen threw himself  behind burnham's hippo scheme with simula gusto  

explaining to the house committee i hope to live  long enough to see herds of these broad-backed  

beasts wallowing in the southern marshes and  rivers fattening on the millions of tons of food  

which awaits their arrival to see great droves of  white rhinoceri roaming over the semi-arid desert  

wastes fattening on the spa's herbage which these  lands offer to see herds of the delicate giraffe  

the flesh of which is the purest and sweetest  of any known animal browsing on the buds and  

shoots of young trees in preparation for the  butcher's block but the third man to testify  

that day was by far the oddest a bar from the  cape colony in what is now south africa fritz  

juber du kane was in many ways frederick burnham's  mirror image a fellow larger-than-life soldier  

spy big game hunter and adventurer whom burnham  once called the human epitome of sin and deception  

when in 1900 the british army in south africa  adopted a policy of scorched earth burning down  

bar farms and herding their occupants into  concentration camps decaying developed a fanatical  

hatred for the british and vowed to kill as many  occupying troops as possible to this end he became  

a scout spy and saboteur for the burr republics  acquiring the certifiably badass but copyright  

infringing nickname of black panther he and his  opposite number frederick burnham soon developed  

a mutual admiration and fierce rivalry and at one  point were actually assigned to kill one another  

for the moment however the two men were united  in their curious crusade to introduce the hippo  

to north america fritz duquesne's involvement in  the hearings was thanks to another of burmann's  

fervent supporters former u.s president and  ardent conservationist theodore roosevelt in  

1909 with his presidential turn coming to an end  roosevelt began planning an epic big game hunting  

trip in east africa and assembled a collection of  experts to advise him on details such as stalking  

techniques and which firearms to bring along  among these advisors was duquesne who impressed  

roosevelt with his intimate knowledge of african  wildlife decaying brought this same expertise to  

bear in the march 1910 hearings explaining to the  committee members how easy it was to domesticate a  

hippo and how a young one could be fed milk from  a bottle like a baby and led around on a leash  

like a pudgy hound hippos he assured them were  not at all dangerous and produced delicious and  

nutritious meat on which his people had sustained  themselves for generations the committee seemed  

impressed but as it was too late to introduce the  hippo bill for that year's session of congress  

broussard decided to wait until the following  spring in the meantime burnham would sail  

on a fact-finding expedition to africa to  choose the best species for importation and  

sort out the logistics of the massive transport  operation but burnham never returned to africa  

the mexican revolution had just broken out and his  business partners called him away to help protect  

their investments along the yaki river meanwhile  the 1911 congressional session came and went and  

while the new food supply society held out hope  that the hippo bill would soon be passed robert  

broussard dithered waiting for the ideal moment  to introduce the bill to congress then in 1915  

broussard left congress for the senate serving  for three years before dying in april 1918. by  

this time the united states entry into the first  world war had dramatically shifted the nation's  

priorities and the hippo bill died a quiet ignoble  death having never been debated by congress this  

was probably for the best for as anyone who  knows anything about african animals can tell  

you hippos are most definitely not the harmless  docile creatures described in fritz duquesne's  

congressional testimony notoriously territorial  and aggressive hippos kill anywhere between  

500 and 3000 people in africa every year more  than any other animal except the mosquito ranching  

them for food would thus have been a highly  dangerous proposition furthermore the animals  

would most likely have been useless against the  secondary problem they were intended to solve the  

invasive water hyacinth in the wild hippos  dine almost exclusively on vocia cuspadata or  

hippograss completely ignoring the abundant water  hyacinth which has also taken over many regions of  

southern africa thus had burnham's fanciful  scheme actually come to fruition the buyers  

of louisiana would have gained nothing more than  another aggressive invasive species that decayne  

got these simple facts absurdly wrong should come  as no surprise for apart from anything else fritz  

de kane was an inveterate liar fraud and con  artist spinning outlandish yarns and constantly  

reinventing himself to suit its own interests  during the first world war duquesne left america  

to become a spy and saboteur for imperial germany  later claiming responsibility for the death of  

british secretary of state for war lord herbert  kitchener according to decayne in june 1916 he  

snuck aboard the cruiser hms hampshire which was  transporting kitchener to a meeting in russia  

and signaled to a german u-boat which proceeded  to torpedo the ship however this story is likely a  

complete fabrication as hms hampshire is known now  to have struck a mine in 1917 duquesne returned to  

america only to find himself dropped from the  lecture circuit as public interest in tales  

of african safaris evaporated he thus reinvented  himself as an australian war hero captain claude  

strawton and toured the country selling war bonds  and regaling audiences with dales of his fictional  

wartime exploits in november of that year he was  arrested in new york and charged with espionage  

arson and murder on the high seas while awaiting  to be extradited to britain duquesne feigned  

paralysis and was transferred to the prison ward  of new york's bellevue hospital where on the  

25th of may 1919 he succeeded in cutting through  the bars of his cell and climbing over the wall  

to freedom but the wily black panther wasn't  finished yet on june 28 1941 duquesne and 32  

other spies were arrested on charges of funneling  information on american weaponry to nazi germany  

the so-called duquesne spy ring was the largest  espionage case in u.s history and resulted in  

duquesne and his conspirators being sentenced  to a total of 300 years in prison fritz de kane  

served 14 before being released due to ill health  in 1954. he died on may 24 1956 at the age of 78.  

returning to our story you may have noticed that  there are in fact no hippopotamuses wading through  

the buyers of louisiana and that hippo steaks and  burgers are not staples of the american diet so  

how when did america finally manage to solve the  meat shortage that inspired frederick burnham's  

outlandish scheme in the first place the solution  turned out to be a rather mundane one rather than  

diversify the types of animals eat an american  farmer simply converted previously unproductive  

land like swamps and bios into grazing pasture  and found ways of packing that land with greater  

and greater numbers of livestock this eventually  developed into the industrial farming methods  

of today which while incredibly productive are  responsible for all sorts of environmental ills  

from waste runoff and algae blooms to antibiotic  resistant bacteria and even 140 years after its  

introduction water hyacinth continues to plague  american waterways with the state of louisiana  

alone spending 2 million per year to keep  the invasive plant under control so perhaps a  

biofuel of aggressive hippos would not have been  the worst outcome after all but while the 1910  

hippo scheme might seem like a bonkers proposition  for us today it does offer a fascinating glimpse  

into the optimism and can-do attitude that  characterized early 20th century america  

as author john muellem writes in his 2013 article  american hippopotamus there is something beautiful  

about the america that considered importing them  an america so intent on facing down its problems  

and solving them that even an idea like this could  get a fair hearing where the political system  

and the culture felt so alive with possibility and  so confident in its own virtue and ingenuity that  

elected officials could sit around and contemplate  the merits of hippo-ranching without worrying too  

much about how it sounded where people felt free  and bold enough to imagine putting hippopotamuses  

in places where there were no hippopotamuses so  if you found this video interesting if you did  

please do hit that thumbs up button below don't  forget to subscribe and thank you for watching

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