Thousands of people from across the world are flocking to Thailand to celebrate one of social media’s biggest stars this week. Thursday, July 10, is social media sensation Moo Deng’s first birthday!
How is Moo Deng being celebrated?
The Khao Kheow Open Zoo, where the social media star lives, kicked off a special four-day celebration in her honor Thursday, complete with a mascot in Moo Deng’s likeness, a place for visitors to wish her a happy day and, of course, a cake.
Since hippos aren’t supposed to eat real cake, Moo Deng’s was made with some of her favorite foods: corn, dragonfruit and watermelon.
Revelers came from far and wide
It’s a first birthday extravaganza for the books, with thousands of people flocking to the zoo from all over the world to celebrate her big day. The zoo’s director told The Associated Press that Moo Deng had gotten 12,000 visitors by Thursday afternoon.
Many said the pygmy hippo’s viral status is what drew them out for the birthday extravaganza.
“Everything I was seeing started to be Moo Deng and I just loved her so much and decided, ‘You know what? I have three or four days off of work. I can make it work to fly to Thailand. I will only be there for about 30 hours, but that’s enough to go see Moo Deng,” said Molly Swindall, who traveled from New York. “And that’s exactly what I did.”
Jennifer Tang, who traveled from Malaysia, said, “She makes me happy. Whenever I’m stressed at work, I pull up photos of Moo Deng. So, my whole office knows that I’m here and they’re all like, ‘Okay.’ They let me take a week off.”
Joining the party
The zoo held online Moo Deng-themed auctions ahead of her birthday to raise money for all of the 2,000+ animals under its care. They auctioned photos, footprints and even a food container.
Also on the auction block: the honor of sponsoring her birthday cake, which went for $100,000 baht, or about $3,000 in the U.S.
The bigger picture
While Moo Deng has gone viral for her playful antics, she’s brought attention to something much more serious: the endangered pygmy hippo population. Native to West Africa, these hippos face dwindling numbers due to poaching and deforestation.
According to the Zoological Society of London, there are fewer than 3,000 individual pygmy hippos left in the world.
