ANIMAL PLANET: Has she broken anything in the house lately?

TONIE JOUBERT: She has broken stuff in the house, yes. At the age of 3-½ she broke the first couch. A short while later, another couch. And then she broke the double bed.

During that time, we had started out allowing her to come into the house on her own free will. She taught herself how to open the front door of the house. We'd close the front door — we live in an area where there are a lot of snakes — and she'd just open the front door and come into the house at will.

But eventually she started breaking the furniture, so we started locking the door. If we were working in the garden, we'd lock the door from the outside and leave the key there, as we walk in and out frequently. Within a week, she even learned how to turn the key and unlock the door. So we had to remove the key from the door to keep her out. Then she started forcing the door, and we had to replace the door handle at very frequent intervals.

Eventually, when Animal Planet was there with Fred [director/producer of Jessica the Hippo], I actually got a security door, which I'm certain is as strong if not stronger than the front door of any prison in the world. It has a barrel vault on the inside.

So now we're controlling her. When we want her inside the house, we'll open it for her. Like right now she's standing outside the front door while I'm speaking to you, and after our conversation I will open the door and let her come in.

3. How has Jessica's health been since the filming?