Scores of ‘cocaine hippos’ arrested with drug lord Pablo Escobar to be executed – National
Colombian officials said this week they plan to release a dozen free-roaming “cocaine hippos” in the country’s interior where they wreak havoc on local populations, disrupt the environment and threaten native wildlife, years after drug lord Pablo Escobar smuggled the animals out.
Environment Minister Irene Velez announced a new set of measures on Monday designed to help control the population of around 80 hippos after previous efforts failed.
“We must take measures to reduce the number of hippos,” he said.
The South American country is home to about 200 hippos in a central area near the Magdalena River. If control measures are not adopted, the population could rise to 1,000 by 2035, Velez said.
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“These actions are important to protect our environment and our species,” he told reporters, noting that overpopulation threatens species such as sea turtles and manatees and causes water pollution.
“We believe there may be about 80 people who may be under the (euthanasia) limit,” he continued.
Hippos are seen swimming near the Magdalena River in Doradal, Colombia, on March 29, 2022.
Juancho Torres/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The country’s first four cocaine hippos were illegally introduced in the late 1980s by Escobar, who ran a private zoo on one of his ranches. Since then, the population has grown despite intervention efforts from the powers of the states to control birth rates.
Colombia is the only country outside of Africa with wild hippos, completely descended from the first four hippos.
Cocaine hippos escaped from Escobar’s farm in Hacienda Napoles after the drug lord was killed by the national police in 1993.
The government’s new program, worth 7.2 billion pesos ($1.98 million), will use various methods, such as confinement and transportation, in another attempt to tame the animals.
Colombia has entered into talks in recent months with eight governments, including India, Mexico, the Philippines, Ecuador, Peru and South Africa, to discuss the transfer of some animals to parks or sanctuaries in those countries, but the necessary approvals have not yet been obtained, Velez said.
Due to breeding, some hippos have genetic problems, which has reduced the interest of other countries in them.
This is not the first time Colombian authorities have proposed a plan to manage the offspring of Escobar’s imported pets.
In 2023, they put forward a plan to capture and transport 70 hippos to India and Mexico after large numbers of the African species have increased in the rivers and lakes around Escobar.
Hippos have no predators in Colombia and can be a threat to biodiversity, as their feces change the structure of rivers and may affect the habitats of manatees and capybaras.
In 2022, the Colombian government declared cocaine hippos as a dangerous invasive species, causing fear among locals that the beloved animals would be killed or sterilized.
– With files from Reuters and Global News staff
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