Runaway hippos frighten drunk fishermen to death

Two hippos, which had escaped from the Bolsherechensky State zoo in the region of Omsk, gave two drunken fishermen the fright of their life when they disturbed their morning sleep. The fishermen, who were dozing peacefully behind their fishing rods on the Bolshoy river, were horrified by the unexpected sight of four "periscopes" - the round ears of the hippos - coming to the surface just three meters away. They looked on as the huge mouth of Malvin the hippo opened wide above the water. Seeing the hippo first, one of the fishermen started yelling, and, grabbing hold of his bicycle, raced away. His friend forgot about his bike, but somehow managed to get back to the village first. It turns out that the hippos, which were being held temporarily in a river enclosure, had broken through a hole in the fence and escaped. 'Kenigs' and 'Malvin', who were first brought from Kaliningrad in 1988, were found grazing peacefully in a grassy meadow.