120 Hippos Killed by Anthrax

Here's an odd story that I came across. Anyone have any thoughts on this?





Kampala (Uganda), Oct. 3. (AP): Anthrax has killed about 120 hippos over the past three months in Uganda's second largest national park, a government official said Saturday.

Wardens of Queen Elizabeth National Park began recording the hippo deaths in July, but were able to explain the deaths only after a samples from the animals were studied by the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, Germany, said Nicholas Kauta, Uganda's livestock commissioner.


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Antrax spores on the ground (occurs naturaly) get eaten, and the animals die. Seems this happens all the time there, except 120 seems like alot to me. Then is spreads as people or animals eat the meat of the infected animals. Scary.....

It might be an import from Europe (not a deliberate one.) If you (or an animal) has walked in an area where there is anthrax, you can carry the spores to another area. So it's not impossible that someone was walking on ground infected with these spores and went to Africa... and the spores found a temporary host in the hippos.