BBC: Photographer tells story behind iconic pic of Tbilisi Zoo hippo

An iconic photograph showing a runaway hippo, loose on the streets of Tbilisi following the June 13 flood is gaining more international recognition, six months after the shot was taken.

As 2015 draws to a close, BBC picture editor Phil Coomes asked eight photographers to tell the story behind a number of their most powerful pictures. Beso Gulashvili, the photographer who captured the runaway hippo, was one of the eight.

"On that night the capital of Georgia was as I'd never seen it. Heavy rain had turned the Vere River that flows near the Zoo and through Tbilisi into a torrent that washed away buildings, roads and cars. The enormous amount of mud and debris under my feet meant that making even small movements was very difficult while shooting photos,” Gulashvili told the BBC.

"My memory card was almost full so I had only a couple of shots left. I was smiling as I took this photo of [Beggy], as I discovered the hippopotamus was called. I had bought a watch for my 14-year-old daughter in that shop just two days before the flood. And here was a hippo in front of it. Today, [Beggy] is arguably the world's most famous hippo."

Earlier this week Reuters news agency named the hippo photograph as one of best 11 images of 2015, while TIME magazine ranked it among the top 100 photos of the year.

The destructive June 13 flood in Tbilisi affected a vast area in the central part of the city, including the city zoo, which found itself at the heart of the disaster.

Tbilisi Zoo was swamped by the surging Vere River in the June 13 flash flood and many of the Zoo’s animals were killed in the disaster.

The temporarily repaired Zoo reopened in September and officials said the best way to support its recovery was to visit the animal park and buy an entry ticket. But those of you who are not in Tbilisi can still support the Zoo via a direct donation to its restoration fund; see details here.

Zoo staff released this information to clarify official methods to donate to the stricken Zoo following the creation of several fake crowdfunding campaigns in the days following the flood.

Many of the online campaigns were unofficial and thousands of dollars donated by the public were never passed on to the Zoo or other victims of the flood.

The June 13 flood killed three Zoo staff and left the animal park in a state of complete chaos. The Zoo lost about 300 animals – about half of the animals that called the park home.

The lower part of the Zoo was completely destroyed and most animals that lived in that area died.