Colombia to Cull Pablo Escobar’s Invasive Hippos

The Gist:

• Drug lord Pablo Escobar brought four hippos to Colombia illegally for his private zoo.
• The hippo population has grown to 169 animals.
• Officials are considering sterilizing, euthanizing, or transporting the hippos to other countries.

Hippos aren’t native to Colombia, but there are about 169 of them roaming around the country’s rivers, thanks to Pablo Escobar, the Associated Press reports. The late drug lord illegally brought four hippos to the country for his private zoo, Hacienda Nápoles, during the 1980s. After his death, the hippos were released into the countryside and settled in places such as the Magdalena River basin.

The hippo population in Columbia has exploded since Escobar died in 1993, and authorities estimate their numbers could grow to 1,000 by 2035, AP reports. Officials in Colombia are considering a plan to cull Escobar’s invasive hippos if other options for controlling the population don’t work. Here’s what you should know about the situation.

The Colombian government declared the hippos an exotic invasive species earlier in 2023, but the problem has been well documented long before then. According to National Geographic, animals become invasive when introduced into an area they don’t naturally exist in and threaten the native ecosystem.

Escobar’s hippos primarily pose ecological problems in the rivers where they’ve settled. The concern is that hippo feces could change the river ecosystem, possibly threatening the habitat of other animals that live in and near the rivers, like manatees and capybaras, reports the AP.

Not to mention, hippos are a significant danger to humans. Hippos are one of the world’s most dangerous animals, killing about 500 people a year, according to the BBC. While the Colombian hippos have killed no one, there have been some close calls, including an incident where some hippos showed up in a schoolyard.

“While they may look very calm, at any moment, given their highly unpredictable behavior, they can attack, as has happened before,” David Echeverri, a local environmental official, told CBS News.

The options being considered to deal with the hippos include surgical sterilization, transfer to other countries, or euthanasia. Euthanasia will only be used as a last resort, said Colombian Environment Minister Susana Muhamad, per the AP.

Colombia’s hippo control plan includes sterilizing 40 hippos per year, Muhamad explained to the outlet. However, sterilization is hugely expensive at roughly $9,800 per animal, and dangerous for both the hippos and the vets performing the procedure.

India, Mexico, and the Philippines are some of the countries to which Colombian officials are considering transferring the hippos. “We are working on the protocol for the export of the animals,” Muhamad told the AP. “We are not going to export a single animal if there is no authorization from the environmental authority of the other country.”

Some residents are concerned about the possibility of hippos getting euthanized.

“They make laws from a distance. We live with the hippopotamuses here, and we have never thought of killing them,” resident Isabel Romero Jerez told the AP in 2022. “The hippopotamuses aren’t African now; they are Colombians.”