Colombia to cull up to 80 hippos descended from Pablo Escobar zoo | Colombia

Colombian authorities have authorized a plan to cull dozens of hippos descended from animals brought to the country in the 1980s by Pablo Escobar, after the wild beasts displaced native species and threatened local villagers.

Environment Minister Irene Vélez said the decision was made because other methods of population control had proven costly and ineffective, including sterilizing some animals or transferring them to zoos. Vélez said up to 80 hippos would be affected by the measure. She did not say when the hunt would begin.

“If we don’t do it, we won’t be able to control the population,” Vélez said. “We must take these measures to preserve our ecosystems. »

Colombia is the only country outside Africa with a wild hippo population, which is descended entirely from four individuals imported by Escobar in the 1980s when the drug lord was building a private zoo at Hacienda Nápoles, a massive ranch in the Magdalena River valley.

A study published by the National University of Colombia estimates that around 170 hippos roamed freely in the country in 2022.

Recently, hippos have been spotted in areas more than 100 km north of the ranch, where Escobar originally introduced the aquatic pachyderms.

Colombian environmental authorities say these large mammals pose a threat to villagers who have encountered them on farms and rivers. They also compete for food and space with local species such as river manatees.

Despite the environmental challenges, hippos have also become a tourist attraction, with residents of the villages surrounding Hacienda Nápoles now offering hippo-viewing tours and selling hippo-themed souvenirs.

Hippos are also one of the main attractions of the Nápoles Ranch, which was confiscated by the Colombian government during the seizure of Escobar’s properties. It now functions as a theme park, complete with swimming pools, water slides and a zoo housing several other African species.

Animal welfare advocates in Colombia have long opposed proposals to kill hippos, arguing that they deserve to live and adding that solving the problem through violence sets a poor example for a country that has endured decades of internal conflict.

Andrea Padilla, a senator and animal rights activist who helped craft a law against bullfighting in Colombia, called the plan to cull hippos a “cruel” decision and accused government officials of trying to take the easy way out.

“Murder and massacre will never be acceptable,” Padilla wrote on X. “These are healthy creatures who are victims of neglect” by government entities.

Over the past 12 years, a period spanning three different presidential administrations, Colombia has attempted to sterilize some hippos in an effort to reduce their population. But these initiatives have been limited in scope, due to the high costs of capturing dangerous animals and their surgery.

Since Colombia’s hippos come from a limited gene pool and could carry disease, returning them to their natural habitat in Africa is also unfeasible.