MEAT PRODUCTION IN SWAMPS 



Introduction of Pigmy Hippopotamus Offers Opportunity for Utilization of 



Large Areas in Southern States to Produce Excellent Meat at 



Low Cost — Difficulties of Securing Breeding 



Stock at Last Overcome. 



WHILE most of the work of 

 plant and animal breeders has, 

 in the last analysis, the pro- 

 duction of cheaper food by in- 

 creasing the supply, as its object, there 

 is one opportunity in the United States 

 which has been entirely neglected. 

 This lies in the large areas of swamp 

 land in the southern states, which at 

 present are economically almost worth- 

 less, and which cannot be reclaimed to 

 ordinary agriculture except at great 

 cost. If this land could be made 

 directly useful in the production of 

 meat, it would appear to be a desirable 

 enterprise from every point of view. 



Such a possibility was clearly out- 

 lined by the late W. N. Irwin, before 

 members of the American Breeders' 

 Association' several years ago, in a dis- 

 cussion of possible increase of meat pro- 

 duction in the United States by the 

 introduction of mammals not now 

 found in this country. He remarked: 



"In selecting other species for in- 

 troduction, it is very important that we 

 consider the food supply that they will 

 require. We have several large areas 

 well adapted to certain kinds of animal 

 life, and not now producing, for the 

 reason that the animals are not there. 

 The area of greatest promise is in our 

 gulf states, and consists of over 10,000 

 square miles (6,400,000 acres) of water 

 and marsh surface, with a sufficient 

 quantity of marsh grass, water hyacinths 



and other aquatic plants now growing 

 to support thousands of animals adapted 

 to those conditions. If properly seeded to 

 water hyacinth and other aquatic plants, 

 this \'ast region would be capable of pro- 

 ducing a million Ions of meat per annum, 

 worth $100,000,000. This area should 

 be stocked with hippopotamus {Hippo- 

 potamus aniphibius) , the flesh of which 

 is highly esteemed, and when salted and 

 cured, is known in the Cape of Good 

 Hope as Zee-Koe Speck (lake-cow 

 bacon). The fatty mass lying between 

 the skin and the flesh or muscles is con- 

 sidered one of the purest of animal fats, 

 and is in great demand among the cape 

 colonists. These massive animals were 

 to the English settlers in Cape Colony 

 what the bulTalo was to the pioneers in 

 the settlement of our great prairies, and 

 like the buffalo were almost heedlessly 

 exterminated." 



DIFFICULTIES PRESENTED, 



Mr. Irwin's proposition never met 

 with acceptance, as it was immediately 

 pointed out that the hippopotami would 

 be impossible to control. The intro- 

 duction to the United States of the 

 l)igmy hipijopotamus of Liberia, how- 

 ever, offers an animal that can l)e easily 

 controlled and kei)t in fences, furnishes 

 excellent meat, and may have a real 

 economic future under such conditions 

 as Mr. Irwin outlined. 



This hip])opotamus (//. libcricnsis) is 



' Irwin, W. A. Animals that should be introduced and bred for economic and jirofitable 

 meat production. A. B. A. annual report V, 214. 



34 



