Colombian officials on Monday authorized a plan to euthanize dozens of free-range hippos that have invaded the country’s center and threatened villagers since they were first brought in by drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Up to 80 hippos will be affected by the plan, which is a last-ditch effort to control the animal’s population after unsuccessful and expensive methods, such as neutering, have failed, according to Environment Minister Irene Vélez.
“If we don’t do this, we will not be able to control the population,” Vélez said. “We have to take this action to preserve our ecosystems.”
The program, with a budget equivalent to $1.98 million, will include population control measures such as confinement and relocation.
The scores of wild hippos are descendants of four imported into the country by Escobar in the 1980s for his private zoo, Hacienda Nápoles, in the Magdalena River valley. The mammals have since roamed about 60 miles north of the drug kingpin’s ranch.
Roughly 170 hippos were roaming freely in the country in 2022, according to a study published by Colombia’s National University.
Environmental authorities have warned that the hippos pose a threat to villagers in farms and rivers, and that they have acted as an invasive species — competing for food and space alongside other animals such as river manatees.
The so-called “cocaine hippos” have become a tourist attraction and draw crowds at the Nápoles ranch, which Colombia’s government confiscated during a seizure of Escobar’s properties.
The ranch is now a theme park with swimming pools, water slides, and a zoo that hosts several other African species.
Animal welfare activists in the country have strongly opposed plans to violently eliminate the semiaquatic animals.
Andrea Padilla, a senator and animal rights activist who helped draft a law against bullfights in Colombia, described the plan to cull the hippos as a “cruel” decision.
“Killings and massacres will never be acceptable,” Padilla wrote on X. “These are healthy creatures who are victims of the negligence of government entities.”
Because Colombia’s hippos come from a limited gene pool and could carry diseases, taking them back to their natural habitat in Africa has been considered unfeasible.
With Post wires
