Two Hippos Leaving Dickerson Park Zoo

The Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield will be saying goodbye to two of their hippos. The sisters had been at the zoo for the past two years while their habitat was being remodeled at the zoo in Colorado Springs.

The hippos made the Dickerson Park Zoo their temporary home in October 2017 because the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo needed a place to put them while it created a new habitat.

The Springfield zoo had space for the sisters, named Zambezi and Kasai, because its beloved Henry the hippo was moved in 2016 to a new $8 million enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo.

The Springfield zoo’s spokeswoman, Joey Powell, says the sisters were originally just supposed to spend a year in Missouri, but construction delays made the stay last longer. She says they’ve been on “an extended vacation.”