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

Colombia authorizes cull of up to 80 hippos descended from Pablo Escobar's private zoo, citing failed controls and rising ecological threat. | Contesto: cronaca

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

Contesto

The Colombian government has authorized a plan to cull up to 80 feral hippopotamuses, descendants of animals illegally imported by the late drug lord Pablo Escobar in the 1980s. Environment Minister Irene Vélez announced the decision, stating that the invasive population, which has thrived in the waterways of the Magdalena River basin, now poses a significant threat to native wildlife and the safety of local villagers. The minister did not specify a start date for the operation. The authorization marks a dramatic and controversial shift in strategy after years of attempting non-lethal population control. Previous efforts, including surgical sterilization programs and attempts to relocate individuals to zoos abroad, have proven prohibitively expensive and logistically challenging, failing to curb the herd's rapid growth. "Other methods to control their population had been expensive and unsuccessful," Vélez stated, underscoring the government's conclusion that more direct intervention is now ecologically necessary. The hippos' origin story is inextricably linked to Colombia's violent narcotics history. Pablo Escobar imported a small number of the animals for his private zoo at his sprawling Hacienda Nápoles estate. After his death in 1993, the government seized the property but left the exotic fauna, which included the hippos, to their own devices. In the absence of natural predators and within a favorable habitat, the original group of four has ballooned to an estimated population of between 80 and 120 individuals, creating the largest herd of hippos outside of Africa. Scientists have long warned that the animals are a destructive invasive species, altering local ecosystems by displacing native fauna like the vulnerable West Indian manatee and degrading water quality with their prodigious waste. Their immense size and aggressive nature also present a direct danger to fishermen and communities along the river. The hippos' unchecked expansion represents a complex, living legacy of the country's drug war, forcing authorities to grapple with an environmental crisis sown decades ago by criminal enterprise. The culling plan is expected to face significant legal and...

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Categoria: cronaca