Courtesy National Zoo

The National Zoo announced way back in April that “Happy,” its 28-year-old Nile hippopotamus, would be leaving this year and moving to the Milwaukee County Zoo in Wisconsin. Well this morning we received word that Happy sneaked off in the dead of night on Monday and is already in Wisconsin, arriving at about 3 a.m. this morning. Did we mean so little to you, Happy, that you had to run away like this? Not even a fare thee well?

Sure, National Zoo associate director of communications Pamela Baker-Masson offered some “reasonable” arguments why Happy left so suddenly.

“Please understand that we were not able to inform you of his departure in advance due to safety concerns surrounding this complex move,” Baker-Masson wrote in an email to members of the media. “The Zoo’s primary objective was to transport the hippo safely AND provide for the safety of our staff and the public. Happy is keenly sensitive. Therefore, our expert animal care team deemed it necessary that we limit any disturbance and deviation from his regular schedule in order for the hippo to voluntarily enter his transport crate.”

Sniff. Fine. Whatever. We guess we’ll just have to comfort ourselves with the knowledge that Happy is now hangin’ with two fine ladies, Patti and Puddles, for possible breeding in Milwaukee. At the National Zoo, he was all by his lonesome.

With Happy’s departure, the Zoo will continue to move ahead with the renovation and expansion of the Asian Elephant Trail, which is scheduled to open in 2010.