Colombia is planning to move dozens of so-called “cocaine hippos” – descendants of drug lord Pablo Escobar’s private zoo – to India and Mexico to control their growing population, according to the local governor.

The cost of the operation is estimated at $3.5 million, local wildlife organizations said today.

A total of 70 male and female hippos are expected to be moved, with 60 going to India and 10 to Mexico. The technical term for this operation is “relocation,” Gov. Anibal Gaviria explained in an interview with Blu Radio, as it would involve moving hippos from a country that is not their native habitat to another that is also not their natural habitat.

Sending hippos back to Africa could do more harm than good, both to the hippos themselves and to the local ecosystem, Maria Angela Echevery, professor of biology at Xaverian University, told CNN. A colony of over 100 animals is currently considered the largest group outside of Africa.

“Hippos live in herds, they are quite aggressive,” Etchevery said. Although “cocaine hippopotamuses” are not native to Colombia, the local terrain is considered favorable for their breeding, as it has shallow water sources and a high concentration of food.

However, Don Pablo’s unexpected legacy is problematic, as these animals, famous for their aggression, often appear densely on the streets of the surrounding villages when someone invades their territory, while all other species managed to “disappear” in just two days. decades that flourished in the area.

Scientists say that if they are not killed immediately, there could be up to 1,500 hippos in the area by 2035.

The first hippos were part of a collection of exotic animals that Escobar collected in the 1980s at his ranch about 250 kilometers from Medellin. After his death in 1993, the authorities relocated most of the other animals, but not the hippos because they were too difficult to transport.

Since then, they began to multiply rapidly, expanding the scope of their activities. Now they represent both an environmental problem and a source of concern for residents of the wider area.

A study published in the journal Nature warned that the number could reach 1,500 within two decades.

Source: CNN, The Guardian.