This is a story from February of 2011, but it is such a great story it is worth sharing again.

Let us introduce you to Donna, the world’s oldest living Hippo in captivity.  She typically spends her days wading in her indoor pool where the water temperature is kept at 80 degrees due to her health and arthritis.  A day in mid-January 2011 was just like an other day…a boiler is heard rumbling in the room next to her pool as water shoots out a two inch pope and she swims under the stream of water.  That is until the boiler stops working!

The maintenance crew scurries around the boiler hoping for an easy fix, but the parts needed will take days to arrive.  In the meantime the water temperature in Donna’s pool has dropped to 44 degrees, after several days without a boiler.  Afraid that the low water temperature will not be good on the Hippo with her arthritis, a temporary water heating source was needed.

A call was made to Action Equipment to see if they have a way to heat water for the Hippo pool.  Action Equipment donated the use of a Hotsy 980SS hot water pressure washer.  The wand is removed so the water can “free flow” and after 3 to 4 hours, the water temperature is up to 65 degrees and Donna is loving it.  Another few hours and the water is around 75 degrees.

The next day the maintenance department was able to get the boiler temporarily fixed.  Until a permanent fix was found, Action let Mesker Park Zoo keep the Hotsy 980SS in case it was needed as a back-up.

Action Equipment would like to thank the Mesker Park Zoo for letting us give back to the community.  Having the oldest Hippo in the world is something the city can be proud of and being part of it makes it even better.  The teamwork involved from the Maintenance crew to the Zookeepers and Action Equipment was impressive enough that names can’t be used because they did for Donna, the oldest living Hippo in the world!

Evansville Indian

Meskerpark Zoo and Botanic Carden

-Thanks to Roger Duke of Action Equipment for sharing this story with Hotsy