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LAST weekend Begi, a 16-year-old hippo, briefly became the most internationally famous resident of Tbilisi. After a flash flood had inundated the city's Mziuri Park and most of its zoo late on June 13th, the dazed behemoth found herself wandering around the Georgian capital's Heroes’ Square. Enterprising Georgians set up a Tbilisi Hippo Fund to raise money to rehouse her. But Begi, who was eventually subdued by a zookeeper's tranquiliser dart, was among the lucky ones. The death toll in the floods has reached 15 people and hundreds of animals; seven people are still missing, while 60 families have lost their homes. A dog shelter and a school were also hit. The government is still assessing the cost of the damage.

Tbilisi is no stranger to flooding. A few weeks ago, a smaller section of Mziuri Park was submerged following heavy rains. Five people died after flooding in the city's Ortachala district in 2012. But the flooding last weekend was the worst since the 1960s. Over a dozen lions, tigers and wolves also escaped from the zoo, and heavily armed Georgian special forces took to the streets to hunt them down. Dismayed and exhausted zoo workers lamented the troops’ readiness to shoot rather than capture the escaped animals—and to pose with the carcasses, as if on safari.