From Richard Reynolds

Richard Reynolds says - -This is just about the most dangerous stunt with a wild animal I've ever seen. A big hippo can bite a human, crocodile or canoe in two. This is akin to playing with one's head in a guillotine. This is a 1994 photo from the Zoo de Bordeaux-Pessac in southwestern France. The trainer was one Jean Duguin, director of the of the zoo. The hippo is (was) a male named Comir, whom Duguin had trained. In November 1999 Duguin was leading Comir to his cage when the huge animal suddenly attacked, killing Duguin instantly. Male hippos are very dangerous. The late Ted Bowman told me that a male at Carson & Barnes quarters in Hugo once got into a pen with some other large hoofed stock and quickly killed several animals. Los Angles zoo's General Curator Michael Dee gave me an example of the enormous power in a male common hippo's jaws. The zoo had adjoining yards for hippos and Malayan tapirs. A keeper forgot to secure the gate leading between the yards. The big male hippo got into the yard with the tapirs. The keepers found the hip walking around in the pen holding a tapir in his open jaws. Now, adult Malayan tapirs weigh 500 to 700 pounds! Luckily, the big hip did not kill the tapir and seems to have just put him down after a time. All of this tells us why circuses preferred to carry female hippos.