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Hippo dies of heart attack at the Dushanbe Zoo

Eight-year-old hippo Tursunboi died of a heart attack at the Dushanbe Zoo

DUSHANBE, February 14 (Itar-Tass) —— Eight-year-old hippo Tursunboi died of a heart attack at the Dushanbe Zoo, Zoo Director Kurbon Odinayev said on Tuesday.

He said the hippo was brought to Dushanbe from Kazakhstan and the Zoo administration did its best to keep it warm and cozy. “Yet the animal died of a heart attack yesterday. It is possible that the hippo had an inborn heart disease but no one in the Kazakh zoo and here noticed it,” he said.

The Dushanbe Zoo, the largest in Central Asia, had a big hippo in the Soviet period. The animal died due to hunger and lack of personnel attention in the years of the Civil War. That war also killed the Dushanbe Zoo’s elephant.

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