# Could you successfully raise hippos in the US as a meat animal? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 11, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-successfully-raise-hippos-in-the-us-as-a-meat-animal/695278 "2014-08-11T00:55:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-successfully-raise-hippos-in-the-us-as-a-meat-animal/695278/41 "2014-08-12T13:11:50Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > [Mud, mud glorious mud . . .](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjnOj9O16_I#t=01m15s)\* > > The biggest problem with raising hippos is that they are mean, territorial, and undomesticatable. Don’t let their shape fool you – hippos kill more people each year than any other African large mammal. They are apt to do that if imported – not only their keepers, but anyone who gets too near them – and you can’t really herd them, so you have to slaughter them one by one with rifles. It’s a big risk for a meat that really has no market. > \*Produced by George (5th Beatle) Martin, BTW. Exactly what I was going to point out. Hippos are dangerous. They kill more people than sharks, if I remember correctly. (If so, then they are actually the most deadly water animal.) Hunting them is one thing, but ranching them? That just inviting trouble. Ranching and farming should be done with domesticated or at least non-aggressive species. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-successfully-raise-hippos-in-the-us-as-a-meat-animal/695278/42 "2014-08-12T15:53:28Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > You eat them or [they eat you.](http://blstb.msn.com/i/76/75AD590F4F47D94BFEDC17E92F166.jpg) You eat them, and you get [anthrax](http://www.mediamaxnetwork.co.ke/thepeople/80146/residents-get-anthrax-drugs-hippo-meat). ---
**Author:** ![Tully\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Tully\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tully_Mars)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-successfully-raise-hippos-in-the-us-as-a-meat-animal/695278/43 "2014-08-12T17:13:04Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > _hands you a bucket_ > > Good luck with that. Ya know, in my younger days, I might have risen to that challenge (he says remembering the time someone bet him he couldn’t rope a grown hog). ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-successfully-raise-hippos-in-the-us-as-a-meat-animal/695278/44 "2014-08-12T23:00:21Z")
There are a few people around here that hunt feral hogs on muleback… using dogs in flackjackets… Killing the hog with Bowie Knives. Yep,Central Texas ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-successfully-raise-hippos-in-the-us-as-a-meat-animal/695278/45 "2014-08-14T20:48:12Z")
> [@Lorene89095](#): > > Killing the hog with Bowie Knives. I’ve never heard of that. Sounds like an incredibly bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-successfully-raise-hippos-in-the-us-as-a-meat-animal/695278/46 "2014-08-16T10:08:34Z")
I keep seeing this as “raise **hippies** …as a meat animal”. I suppose it’s possible: meat animals don’t usually eat meat themselves. And they’d be free range. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-successfully-raise-hippos-in-the-us-as-a-meat-animal/695278/47 "2014-08-17T01:14:18Z")
What if you raised the hippos like veal, then they couldn’t really get very aggressive with you, yet would probably be quite delicious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-successfully-raise-hippos-in-the-us-as-a-meat-animal/695278.md?page=2)