Satire: Exotic Animals Deployed as Delta 'Weed Whackers'

Exotic Animals Deployed as Delta 'Weed Whackers'

Coast guard crews keep close watch on the pod of hippos grazing in and around the weed-infested Stockton Deep Water Ship Channel. Photo courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard

Hippos and manatees and capybara, oh my!

This article was an April Fool's joke published by UC Davis last year.  The funny thing about April Fool's jokes is that they often aren't seen by folks until well after the date of their publishing, which can lead to an least a  few gullible people thinking they are real (not saying stunts like this haven't been pulled in real life... *cough* cane toad * cough*).  Check out the article, but the real fun is in the comments; one guys seriously wrote a novel lambasting "the epitome of environmentally contemptuous 19th Century stupidity" of this plan.