Khao Kheow Open Zoo is preparing to trademark the name “Moo Deng the Hippo” to capitalise on interest in the bouncy little baby that has become a global superstar.
Zoo director Narongwit Chodchoi said one goal is to prevent the animal from being commercialised by anyone else, The Associated Press reported in a story carried in Time magazine.
“After we do this, we will have more income to support activities that will make the animals’ lives better,” The AP quoted him as saying.
“The benefits we get will return to the zoo to improve the life of all animals here.”
Moo Deng’s keeper, Atthapon Nundee, has been posting pictures online of cute moments of the animals in his care for about five years. He said he never imagined the newborn pygmy hippo would become an internet megastar.
“It was beyond expectation,” he told The AP. “I wanted people to know her. I wanted a lot of people to visit her, or watch her online, or leave fun comments. I never would have thought (of this).”
Moo Deng has become the subject of memes all over the internet, with her image used by American pro sports teams, European football teams and many other organisations in attention-getting ways. One fan even created a T-shirt promoting the hippo as a candidate in the US presidential election.
Mr Narongwit sees an opportunity to turn all that interest into revenue that can be used to further the work of the zoo, located about 40km northeast of Pattaya in Chon Buri.
The 800-hectare site, home to more than 2,000 animals, runs breeding programmes for many animals, some of them at risk or endangered. The pygmy hippopotamus, which is native to West Africa, is threatened by poaching and loss of habitat. There are only 2,000 to 3,000 of them left in the wild.
To help raise funds, the zoo has been making Moo Deng shirts and pants, with more merchandise to come.
The first lot of 700 Moo Deng T-shirts have already sold out at the zoo’s Green Mountain restaurant at 329 baht each.
Prime in-person viewing times for Moo Deng are from 7.45am to 9am, when she usually runs and jumps around while zoo staff clean her pen, and during the afternoon when the staff feed her mother Jona.
During these periods, visitors have to queue up and viewing times are limited to five minutes. If they want more time, they have to queue again.
If you can’t make it to the zoo in person, you can view Moo Deng any time you want on her new 24-hour livestream here.
On Friday night about 44,000 viewers watched the streaming channel, which also features many other animals, Mr Narongwit said on Saturday.
Khao Kheow Open Zoo earned 13 million baht in ticket sales to nearly 82,000 visitors from Sept 1 to 19. It expects to finish its fiscal year on Sept 30 with 200 million baht in revenue from one million visitors.
Moo Deng mania has increased visitor numbers by 50%, said Mr Narongwit, who also foresees more foreign visitors, especially those from other Asian countries like Japan, China and South Korea.
