page_title: Basel Zoo
section_title: Farasi (2008 – )
hierarchical_section_title: Basel Zoo / Notable residents – past and current / Farasi (2008 – )
caption_attribution_description: English: Zoo Basel. Farasi is a male hippopotamus that became world famous when news broke that zoo officials apparently intended to kill him and feed him to the lions (or tigers, as per msnbc).
context_page_description: Zoo Basel is a non-profit zoo in the city of Basel, Switzerland. Its official name is Zoologischer Garten Basel — or in English: Basel Zoological Garden. Basel residents affectionately call it Zolli. Its main entrance is just outside Basel's downtown strip of Steinen and extends in the Birsig stream valley to Basel's city border with Binningen, Basel-Country.
  Zoo Basel is Switzerland's oldest and largest zoo. With over 1.8 million visitors per year, it is the most visited tourist attraction in Switzerland with an entrance fee.
  Zoo Basel was ranked as one of the fifteen best zoos in the world by Forbes Traveler in 2008 and in 2009 as the seventh best in Europe by Anthony Sheridan from the Zoological Society of London.
  The zoo had the first Indian rhinoceros birth in a zoo, as well as the first greater flamingo hatch. It has had repeated breeding success with animals including cheetahs, okapi, pygmy hippopotamuses, and flamingos. Every Somali wild ass in zoos worldwide is related to the population in Basel, where this species' zoological breeding program was started.
  Zoo Basel is undergoing the most expensive expansion in its history.
context_section_description: Farasi is a male hippopotamus that became world-famous when news broke that zoo officials apparently intended to kill him and feed him to the lions (or tigers, as per MSNBC).
  Zoo Basel quickly denied these plans; however, the news of it spread around the globe. His story was written in newspapers like the Wall Street Journal and made it to TV news such as at MSNBC, that claimed the zoo intends to feed Farasi to the tigers — even though there are no tigers in Basel. He has a Facebook page in French.
  On November 17, 2010, Farasi left Zoo Basel to Tshukudu Private Game Reserve in South Africa.
  While Farasi has been "saved" from being Basel-lion food, ironically, he was attacked by a lion in South Africa. As Farasi was at first too small to defend himself against predators, he was kept in a large enclosure on the reserve. However, in 2011, Farasi broke out of this protected area and was eventually attacked by a lion during a night on land. The wounds were not severe, but a veterinarian was called; Farasi had to be tranquilized and was brought back to safety in an enclosure with an electric fence. According to Sylvia Sussens, of the reserve, Farasi should have been large enough to defend himself by 2012 and was scheduled to be released into the wild.
caption: Farasi: September 2009
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