Hippo Stars in Telus Commercial

Happy Hippo
Originally uploaded by rajue.

In a recent Telus campaign, the Greater Vancouver Zoo's baby hippo, Hazina appears, riling animal right's organizations such as the Vancouver Humane Society. The society believes this will spur trade of exotic animals, says Vancouver's daily Metro News. However, the larger issue here seems to be that the zoo has not yet built a suitable accomodation for the growing animal. Telus conceeded that the hippo should have a better living environment and has contributed $10,000 to the zoo for this purpose. I think that's one good reason to involove the zoo in more advertising. If the zoo can't raise funding well enough on its own maybe it's time to venture down this road further.