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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, September 24, 2008

HAWAII BRIEFS
Honolulu Zoo hippo Cleo dies

Advertiser Staff

One of Honolulu Zoo's oldest animals has died.

Cleopatra, known as Cleo, was the second oldest hippopotamus in captivity in the United States.

A zoo veterinarian put her to sleep on Saturday because she was suffering from growing complications of old age.

The 3,500-pound hippo could no longer stand on her own.

She was just a few weeks shy of her 53rd birthday. Zoo officials said the typical life span for a hippo is 35 years, but that animals in captivity sometimes live much longer.

Cleo will be sent to a university lab for research and study. The Honolulu Zoo has two other hippos.



MAN INDICTED IN WAIKIKI CHILD RAPE

A grand jury yesterday indicted a South Carolina man in the kidnapping and rape of a 10-year-old girl in Waikiki on Sept. 17.

Christopher Eugene Cantrell, 27, was charged with five counts of first-degree sex assault, and one count each of third-degree sex assault, kidnapping and promoting child abuse in the third-degree.

He was also charged with burglary and assault in the beating of the child's father.

He was being held on $200,000 bail.

Police said the attack happened at the ResortQuest at the Waikiki Banyan hotel shortly before 3 a.m., after the girl's father had befriended Cantrell and invited him to their 12th-floor room.

Once in the room, Cantrell allegedly attacked the girl's father and knocked him out. Police said Cantrell then kidnapped the girl and repeatedly raped her in a 10th-floor laundry room at the hotel.