According to cbsnews, Colombia is proposing to transfer at least 70 hippos living near Pablo Escobar’s former ranch – the descendants of four hippos smuggled out of Africa by the former drug lord in the 1980s – to India and Mexico as part of a plan to control their population. com.

The so-called “cocaine behemoths” – which weigh up to 3 tons – have spread far beyond the Hacienda Napoles farm, located along the Magdalena River. Environmental authorities estimate that there are approximately 130 hippos in the Antioquia province area, and that the population could reach 400 in eight years.

Hacienda Escobar Napoles and the hippos have become something of a local tourist attraction in the years since their owner was killed by police in 1993. When his farm was abandoned, the hippos survived and reproduced in the local rivers and in the favorable climate.

Warning of scientists

Scientists warn that hippos have no natural predator in Colombia and are a potential problem for biodiversity because their faeces change the composition of rivers and can affect the habitats of manatees and otters. Last year, the Colombian government declared them a toxic invasive species.

In 2021, after the government of Colombia was sued over its plan to sterilize or kill the animals, a federal court ruled that hippos could be recognized as persons or “persons in interest” with legal rights in the US. But the order carries no weight in Colombia, where the hippos live, the lawyer said.

The area where they roam is a paradise for animals that have no predators and lack food and water, CBS News correspondent Manuel Boyorquez reported in 2019. Local residents call them “village pets”.

In Africa, hippos cause more human deaths than any other large animal. There are currently no reports of attacks in Colombia. But David Echeverri, who works for the environmental agency responsible for tracking and managing hippos in the region, told Bojorquez it was only a matter of time before someone got hurt.

The plan to transport the hippos to India and Mexico has been in the works for more than a year, said Lina Marcela de los Rios Morales, director of animal protection and welfare for the Antioquia Ministry of the Environment.

The hippos have to be lured with food into large iron containers and transported by truck to the international airport of the city of Rionegro, 150 kilometers away. From there, they will be taken to India and Mexico, where there are “sanctuaries” and zoos capable of accepting and caring for the animals.

“It can be done, we already have the experience of relocating hippos in national zoos,” said David Echeverri.

Hippos on the streets

The plan is to send 60 hippos to the Green Kingdom Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Gujarat, India, which De los Rios Morales said will cover the cost of the containers and air transportation. Another 10 hippos will go to zoos and reserves in Mexico, such as Ostoc, located in Sinaloa.

“We are working with Ernesto Zazueta, who is the president of the reserves and the zoo in Mexico, the one who liaises with the different countries and manages their rescue,” the official said.

The plan is to focus on the hippos that live in the rivers around Hacienda Napoles, rather than those on the farm, as they are in a controlled environment and do not threaten the local ecosystem.

The relocation would help control the hippo population, and although the animals’ native habitat is Africa, it is more humane than the alternative proposal of exterminating them as an invasive species, De los Rios Morales said.

According to the Antioquia governor’s office, Ecuador, the Philippines and Botswana have also expressed interest in relocating Colombian hippos to their countries.

Last year, Alvaro Molina, 57, said he supported the so-called “cocaine behemoths,” even though he was one of the few Colombians they targeted. One day he was fishing when he felt a movement under the canoe that threw him into the water.

“A female once attacked me because she had recently given birth,” he said.

Locals say that hippos sometimes climb out of the water and walk the streets of the city. When this happens, traffic stops and people move out of the way. (Source: News.ro)