Bangkok, Thailand:
An endangered child pygmy hippo that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has change into a profitable supply of earnings for her house zoo, quadrupling its ticket gross sales, the establishment stated Thursday.
Moo Deng, whose title in Thai means “bouncy pork”, has drawn tens of 1000’s of holiday makers to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month.
The 2-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merch, memes and even craft tutorials on how you can make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at house.
A zoo spokesperson advised AFP that ticket gross sales from the beginning of September to Wednesday reached nearly 19.2 million baht ($590,000) — greater than 4 instances the identical interval final 12 months.
Followers from all around the world have queued for hours outdoors her enclosure, forcing keepers to restrict Moo Deng remark time to 5 minutes every.
The zoo has arrange a round the clock livestream of the hippo’s enclosure to ease ready instances and for followers who can not go to in individual.
Additionally it is hoping Moo Deng fever spurs additional merchandise gross sales, launching a pygmy hippo-themed T-shirt line final week. At 300 baht, or $9 a pop, it’s at the moment solely accessible on the zoo itself.
“We have now outsourced an organization to assist us produce Moo Deng merchandise, like T-shirts and trousers,” stated the zoo’s spokesperson, including any Moo Deng-generated income would go in direction of enhancing services for all of the zoo’s animals, not simply its star moneymaker.
“Earnings might be used to take care of the zoo.”
The hype has prompted animal rights group PETA to submit an announcement on its web site saying “there’s nothing cute a couple of child being born in captivity”.
Endangered pygmy hippos are native to West Africa, and there are solely an estimated 2,000-2,500 left on this planet, in line with the IUCN.
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