Drug lord Pablo Escobar's 'cocaine hippos' to be sent to India

When police killed Escobar in 1993 and his Hacienda Napoles ranch was left abandoned, the hippos escaped and reproduced.

Colombia is considering relocating nearly 70 hippopotamuses, descendants of four imported from Africa illegally by the late drug lord Pablo Escobar in the 1980s - to India and Mexico.

The move is part of Columbia's move to control hippo population, which have spread far beyond the Hacienda Napoles ranch, located 200 km from Bogota along the Magdalena River.

Wildlife experts estimate there are about 130 hippos in the area in Antioquia province and their population could reach 400 in eight years.

The hippos, who are territorial and weigh three tons, are descended from the four hippos that were illegally imported from Africa by drug lord Pablo Escobar in the 1980s.

After Escobar's death in 1993, the hippos were left to roam freely on the estate. Over the years, the population of the hippos has grown to over 130 individuals, making it the largest known population of wild hippos outside Africa.

The animals and the ranch itself have now become a tourist attraction in the area, but they have also caused concerns over their impact on the local ecosystem and the potential danger they pose to humans.

Conservation concerns

Most conservationists believe hippos to be problematic and invasive in Colombia, as they have the potential to change the ecosystems, feeding heavily on plants and displacing native species like the West Indian manatee, Neotropical otter, spectacled caiman and turtles.

In 2020, a study showed that there was an increase in the nutrient levels and cyanobacteria in Colombian lakes inhabited by hippos. Cyanobacteria can cause toxic algae blooms and die-offs of aquatic fauna.

In contrast to the opposition by most conservationists, some ecologists have argued that they should remain and might even have a positive effect on the local environment.

Others have argued that the Colombian hippos should be regarded as a safe population, isolated from the threats faced by African hippos, and that they could be beneficial to the local ecotourism industry.

What will happen to the hippos?

The plan is to lure the hippos into large iron containers using food, and then transport them to the airport in Rionegro.

Around 60 of the hippos would be flown to the Greens Zoological Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom in the Indian state of Gujarat, while 10 would be flown to various zoos and sanctuaries around Mexico. Two more hippos could also be sent to Ecuador.

Departmental officials in Antioquia said the plan has been in the works for more than a year.

"It is possible to do, we already have experience relocating hippos in zoos nationwide," said David Echeverri López, a spokesperson for local environmental authority Cornare, which would be in charge of the relocations.

In recent years, there have been various proposals to manage the hippo population, including sterilization, culling, or capturing and relocating them to zoos or wildlife parks. However, there is still debate over the best course of action, and the fate of the Pablo Escobar hippos remains uncertain.

with agency inputs