Hippopotamus, which had made a dramatic appearance floating down the swollen Varayal river near Mananthavady on Wednesday, died.
The residents of Varayal were in for a surprise when they saw a huge mass floating down the swollen river and after a seven-hour ordeal, workers of Ramagiri coffee estate of the Gemini circus company brought it ashore with the help of the local people.
The hippo, though injured in the leg, swam nearly 2 kms in the river before it was brought ashore and it spent the night on the road side.
Though wild animals had often strayed into the area before, it was for the first time that the residents found a hippo in their locality, according to people living in the area.
The hippo, a circus animal, has been kept in a pond at the estate for the past few months due to an injury. It escaped from there and found its way into the river, sources said.
The end had come at a time when the workers were planning to shift the animal back to the estate using a crane last night.
The hippo would be buried after postmortem, the sources said.