Colombia to deport dozens of ‘cocaine hippos’ linked to drug lord Pablo Escobar in population control bid

Colombian officials on Monday approved a plan to exterminate a large number of people hippos roam free in the middle of the country, where they terrorize the villagers and drive away the native species after his famous years as a drug dealer. Pablo Escobar we were brought the first ones.

The Minister of Environment Irene Vélez said that the previous methods of controlling the population of the so-called “cocaine hippos” have been expensive and unsuccessful, including killing some of the animals or taking them to zoos. Vélez said up to 80 hippos will be affected by this measure. He did not say when the hunt would begin.

“If we don’t do this, we won’t be able to control people,” said Vélez. “We have to take this step to save our environment.”

Colombia is the only country outside Africa with wild hippos. The hippos are the offspring of four brought to the country in the 1980s by Escobar as he built a private zoo at Hacienda Nápoles, a large ranch in the Magdalena River valley with a private residence that served as his country estate.

A study published by the National University of Colombia estimates that there will be 170 hippos roaming freely in the country by 2022.

Colombia has announced that the invasive species and experts say that sterilization alone is not enough to control animal growth, which is why the government planned for it to happen transfer of hippos in overseas sanctuaries. But the cost of chasing hippos is also expensive – it is estimated $3.5 million.

Recently, hippos have been spotted more than 60 kilometers north of the farm.

Environmental authorities in Colombia say the mammals are a threat to rural people who have encountered them on farms and in rivers. They also compete for food and space with local animals such as river manatees.

Freelance journalist Audrey Huse, who has lived in Colombia for years, previously told CBS News that because hippos roam freely, they end up killing fish and threatening existing species such as manatees, otters and turtles.

“Because they don’t have natural predators here, like they would in Africa, the population grows and disrupts the local ecosystem,” Huse said. “Because they are big animals, they eat a lot of grasslands and produce a lot of waste, which poisons the rivers.”

Despite the challenges, the hippos have once again become a tourist attraction, as villagers around Hacienda Nápoles offer hippo tours and sell hippo-themed souvenirs.

Hippos are also one of the main attractions at the Nápoles farm, which was taken over by the Colombian government when it confiscated Escobar’s estates. It now operates as a theme park, featuring swimming pools, water slides and a zoo that includes several other African species.

Last October, the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, announced that the country had given up a portion Escobar’s ranch for women they were caught in the national armed conflict.

Animal welfare activists in Colombia have long opposed proposals to kill hippos, saying they deserve to live. They say that solving this problem with violence is a bad example in a country that has been facing internal turmoil for decades.

Andrea Padilla, a senator and animal rights activist who helped draft the anti-bull law in Colombia, described the plan to exterminate the hippos as a “cruel” decision, and accused government officials of trying to take the easy way out.

“Killing and killing people will never be acceptable,” Padilla wrote in X. “These are healthy creatures who are victims of the negligence” of government agencies.

In the last 12 years, since the administrations of three presidents, Colombia has tried to remove some of the hippos in an effort to reduce their population. But these programs have been limited due to the high costs associated with capturing endangered animals and operating on them.

Because Colombian hippos come from limited genetics and can carry diseases, reintroducing them to their natural habitat in Africa has been considered impossible.