Nikica the hippopotamus walks partially submerged in a flooded yard at a village in Berislavci, about 15 miles south of the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, on Dec. 6. Nikola Pejovic, owner of a private zoo, says that the 12-year-old, 2-ton hippopotamus was released from her cage after the flood. The only hippopotamus from Montenegro regularly escapes from the mountainous Adriatic nation's zoo during seasonal floods.

Nikica, a two-ton hippopotamus, swims on Dec. 6, through flood waters, four kilometers from her flooded pen, in Plavnica, south of the capital Podgorica. The hippopotamus had to leave her flooded pen in a private zoo after a similar evacuation in January floods. In Montenegro, the situation was still serious on Dec. 5 in the Lake Skadar region, at the border with Albania, and around Podgorica. More than 1,000 soldiers were called to help the population.