Marius Els Killed By His Pet Hippo Humphrey, South Africa

A South African farmer has been killed by the pet hippopotamus he raised from the age of five months, and which he once described as being 'like a son' to him. Humphrey the Hippo gouged owner Marius Els, 41, to death by repeatedly biting him in a vicious attack on Saturday night. The farmer's mutilated body was discovered submerged in a river running through his 400-acre farm in rural South Africa.
Only earlier this year Mr Els was seen happily riding on his 1,200kg pet bull hippo's back. 'Humphrey's like a son to me, he's just like a human,' he said at the time. 'There's a relationship between me and Humphrey and that's what some people don't understand. They think you can only have a relationship with dogs, cats and domestic animals. But I have a relationship with the most dangerous animal in Africa.'
Mr Els, who was married, kept 20 different species of exotic animals, including giraffe and rhino, on his farm near Klerksdorp in South Africa's north west. But he developed a special fondness for Humphrey, whom he bought aged just five months and for whom he even built a special lake.