Global News - September 2007

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Ghanaian dam project will 'put hippos at risk'

Thu 27 September 2007 14:30 UK — Africa

A new dam which is due to be built in Ghana could put the country's hippos at risk, conservationists have warned.

Reuters reports that China's Sino Hydro Corporation has just begun work on the $620 million dam in the north of Ghana.

However, the news agency states that the project will result in the flooding of one-fifth of Bui National Park, where the country's largest hippo population lives.

Currently, the animals graze on the banks of the Black Volta river, but experts are concerned that the dam will cause the hippos to move upstream in search of food and that this could bring them into conflict with humans in the area.

British biologist Daniel Bennett, who worked in Ghana for many years, explained the problem to the news agency: "A hippo weighs a couple of tonnes. The idea that there will be enough forage for that many animals is ridiculous.

"I think we are looking at huge conflicts between people and hundreds of hungry hippos who descend on the farmlands."

However, government officials said that the animals would be able to find enough food along the banks of the newly created lake.

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