{"id":5794,"date":"2016-12-15T11:41:33","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T17:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=5794"},"modified":"2016-12-15T12:37:51","modified_gmt":"2016-12-15T18:37:51","slug":"bayou-hippos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2016\/12\/15\/bayou-hippos\/","title":{"rendered":"Bayou Hippos?"},"content":{"rendered":"

DON’T LAUGH. IT ALMOST HAPPENED<\/p>\n

BY TERRY L. JONES<\/p>\n

We all fantasize about that hunt of a lifetime. Mine would be floating down Bayou Teche on a balmy winter day. Scanning ahead for my quarry, I spot a large bull, snatch up my trusty .375 Holland & Holland double and drop the trophy with a well-placed head shot. My buddies whoop and share high fives as we take photos of the beast and then ponder how to load the four-ton hippopotamus into the boat.<\/p>\n

Sounds outrageous? Well, if Teddy Roosevelt and Rep. Robert Broussard had had their way back in 1910, today\u2019s hunters might well have a hippo stamp to fill the freezer with some bayou bacon.<\/p>\n

At the turn of the 20th century, immigration was causing the nation\u2019s population to soar, and meat was becoming scarce. Prices were rising so dramatically that many people either boycotted meat out of protest or were forced to limit their consumption dramatically.<\/p>\n

To alleviate the shortage, British adventurer Frederick Russell Burnham hatched a scheme to transplant various African animals to the U.S. to be domesticated for the market and hunted for food. Burnham, a famous British soldier and an expert on Africa, was the inspiration for both the Boy Scouts and Indiana Jones.\"hippo4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Burnham wrote an article outlining his plan. He quickly gained the support of the New York Times and former president and hunting enthusiast Teddy Roosevelt.<\/p>\n

Robert Broussard, a Louisiana congressman from New Iberia, liked the idea and saw Burnham\u2019s plan as a way to kill two birds with one stone. By the early 20th century, many South Louisiana bayous were clogged with invasive Japanese hyacinths. Japanese delegates to the 1884 New Orleans international cotton exposition had introduced the hyacinths to Louisiana. But they quickly escaped confinement and spread across the lower part of the state.<\/p>\n

Broussard was told that African hippos loved to eat hyacinths and that their meat was delicious. Figuring that South Louisiana was a lot like Africa, he believed hippos would easily adapt to our bayous, and, while they cleaned up the streams, Louisiana\u2019s sportsmen could hunt them for meat.<\/p>\n

In 1910, Broussard introduced H.R. 23261, more commonly known as \u201cThe Hippo Bill,\u201d and held an agricultural committee hearing on the subject. Broussard enlisted Burnham and Fritz Duquesne to drum up interest in transplanting hippos and raising money from investors.<\/p>\n

While Burnham was a well-respected international figure, Duquesne was a rather mysterious con man. A South African Boer, he had fought against Burnham in the Boer Wars and was known as the \u201cBlack Panther.\u201d Both men had served as scouts, and were once issued orders to kill each other. Now, the former enemies put aside their differences to work together on Broussard\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n

William Newton Irwin, a researcher for the federal bureau of plant industry, also supported Broussard when he testified at the hearing. Irwin insisted that hippo meat was quite tasty, and that the only reason Americans had not tried it before was \u201cbecause nobody ever told them it was the proper thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKilled under the right conditions and cooked properly, it is not only good, but it really is a delicacy. In flavor, it is a blend between good beef and turkey. Sometimes one might say it is a combination of beef and fine sweet pork.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bringing hippos to Louisiana was just one part of the overall plan to end the nation\u2019s meat shortage. At Broussard\u2019s hearing, experts advocated putting zebras on the Great Plains; giraffes in Virginia and Arizona to provide both meat and leather; and white rhinos (whose meat was said to be delicious); in the desert southwest. Other animals on the transplant list included yaks, llamas, African buffalo, gemsbok, and gnus.<\/p>\n

Broussard\u2019s hearing elicited support from around the nation. The Indianapolis Sunday Star noted, \u201cWe have enriched our native stocks of flowers, fruits and vegetables with contributions from all over the world. But we have strangely overlooked the earth\u2019s stocks of useful, edible and ornamental mammals. We hope the Louisiana legislature will look into this matter, as requested by its forests, fish and game commissioner, and that Congress will pass Broussard\u2019s bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

The San Francisco Call wrote, \u201cLake cow bacon, made from the delicious hyacinth-fed hippopotamus of Louisiana\u2019s lily fringed streams, should soon be obtainable from the southern packing houses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alas, in the end, no hippos ever made it to Bayou Teche. Despite Broussard\u2019s hearing and all the publicity, the Dept. of Agriculture decided the meat shortage could be better addressed by converting more land to ranching and finding new ways to increase beef production. Perhaps it was for the best. If you think feral hogs are a problem …<\/p>\n

Dr. Terry L. Jones is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe who has received numerous awards for his books and outdoor articles.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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