Eighty of Pablo Escobar’s “cocaine hippos” will be killed by wildlife officials in Colombia in an effort to control the spiraling population.
The animals, descendants of hippos that the late drug kingpin imported to his private zoo, pose a threat to locals and wildlife, authorities say.
When Escobar was shot dead in 1993, the Colombian government took control of his vast estate, including the zoo he built at Hacienda Nápoles, his base of operations 150 miles northwest of Bogotá.
Most of the animals were shipped to new locations, but four were left behind and released, and now there are dozens of them living in the wild. A study by the National University of Colombia in 2022 suggested the population totaled around 170 hippos.
Irene Vélez, the director of the Colombian National Environmental Agency, said: “If we don’t do this, we will not be able to control the population. We have to take this action to preserve our ecosystems.”
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Ms. Vélez said previous efforts to control the population had been expensive and largely unsuccessful. Scientists forecast the number of hippos will swell to almost 1,500 by 2040, and the environmental impact will be irreversible.
It is believed to be the only wild hippo population outside Africa and has become a major tourist attraction. However, authorities say it is a threat to native species.
Officials claim the unchecked growth of the population also poses a danger to the public. Hippos kill more people annually than any other African mammal, and their toxic urine and feces are dangerous for humans and other animals.
Some animal rights activists are opposed to the plan to kill the animals.
Andrea Padilla, a senator and animal activist who helped draft a law against bullfights in Colombia, described the plan as cruel and accused officials of trying to take the easy way out.
She wrote on X, the social media platform: “Killings and massacres will never be acceptable. I will never support the slaughter of healthy creatures; even less so, if, as in this case, they are victims of irresponsibility, negligence, indolence, and state corruption.”
Escobar was killed at age 44 in an operation by Colombian special forces, with assistance from the US. He had overseen a large-scale cocaine-trafficking operation that dominated the illegal drugs trade between Latin America and the US.
Crime & Courts Correspondent
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