According to a statement issued Thursday by Colombia’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Pablo Escobar’s famed “cocaine hippos” will be slaughtered.
According to the Colombian government, the herd has quickly multiplied from the original population of one male and three females owned by the drug kingpin as part of his private collection of unusual wildlife.
Authorities relocated most other animals in the collection after Escobar’s death in 1993, but not the hippos because they were too difficult to transport. The expanding population provides an environmental issue because there are no natural predators. If “strong measures” to manage them are not adopted, the population might increase to “1,000 individuals by 2035,” according to the statement.
This next phase of hippo population management includes three strategies: sterilization, relocation, and “ethical euthanasia,” according to the report.
Pablo Escobar’s ‘Cocaine Hippos’ Face Colombian Government Cull
“All three strategies must work in tandem,” said Environment Minister Susana Muhamad. “Here we are in a race against time in terms of the permanent environmental and ecosystem impacts that are being generated and that is why we cannot say that only one strategy is effective for our objective, which is to control the population.”
Experts advised culling hippos in 2021 to prevent long-term detrimental impacts, but other experts are asking for a castration program, citing animal welfare concerns.
Between 2011 and 2019, four males and two females were castrated and sterilized. However, this had little effect on the hippos’ progress. Putting the hippos on birth control was also futile. There are also proposals to relocate some of the population to India, the Philippines, and Mexico, with the practicalities of transporting 60 people to India being studied, according to the statement.
“We are looking to implement this plan in the shortest possible time, precisely so that the impacts cease,” he said.
Pablo Escobar’s ‘Cocaine Hippos’ Face Colombian Government Cull
The ministry stated that sterilization will cost the country an average of 40 million pesos ($10,000) for each animal and will begin next week to sterilize 40 animals per year.
The minister ended by noting that hippos have been designated as an “invasive exotic” with “aggressive characteristics” and that “their presence represents a threat to ecosystems as well as risks for the communities that surround them.”
According to research, the feces hurts oxygen levels in bodies of water, which can endanger fish and, eventually, humans. According to a 2021 study, the animals also pose a hazard to agriculture and the security of humans in afflicted areas. A hippo from Escobar’s collection died in April after being hit by a car.
Pablo Escobar’s ‘Cocaine Hippos’ Face Colombian Government Cull
Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ refer to a group of hippos that were brought to Colombia by the infamous drug lord, Pablo Escobar, as part of his private zoo. Escobar owned a vast estate known as Hacienda Nápoles, where he housed a variety of exotic animals, including four hippos.
After Escobar’s death, the hippos were left unattended and began to roam freely in the surrounding area. Over the years, their population has grown significantly, posing ecological challenges and raising concerns about their impact on the local ecosystem.
SOURCE – (CNN)
