How a hippo survived the blockade

In 1911, a three-year-old hippopotamus was brought to St. Petersburg Zoo. By the end of the thirties, Beauty - so called his favorite Leningraders, was the largest hippopotamus in Europe. But the war began. The beauty remained in besieged Leningrad. In winter, the forty-first city water supply did not work, the hippo pool remained empty. Hippos cannot live without water, their skin dries up, cracks and the animal dies of sepsis. Evdokia Ivanovna Dashina daily brought 400 liters (!) of water on sleds from the Neva, soaped Beauty and wiped her skin with camphor oil. In zoos, the hippo is entitled to 40 kilograms of food per day. Evdokia Ivanovna daily steamed 30 kilograms of sawdust, added 4 kilograms of herbal and vegetable mixture and fed a two-ton animal. Thanks to such selfless care, the Beauty survived the blockade. Hippopotamic died in 1951 of old age, having lived for 40 years in the Leningrad Zoo.