Today I learned that in 1910, the U.S. seriously considered importing hippos and releasing them into the wild to (1) eat invasive water hyacinths and (2) be eaten by Americans. The bill, H.R. 23261, also known as the “American Hippo bill”, was introduced in 1910 by Congressman Robert F. Broussard of Louisiana. Funnily enough, the bill itself makes no mention of hippos. It wasn’t actually about hippos. It was a “give us the money and we’ll figure it out” kind of law. The committee politely thanked everyone for a “very interesting morning” and dispersed. There was no vote. Never.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 