Brave Colombians Start Sterilizing Escobar’s Angry Hippos
It’s been four decades since drug kingpin Pablo Escobar smuggled four hippopotamuses out of Africa to populate his lavish estate in Colombia with exotic animals. Escobar has been dead a long time but his hippos have flourished, with more than 150 of the beasts stomping throughout the Magdalena River basin.
The Colombian government has ramped up its attempt to control the invasive species, this time by sterilizing them. Last week two male hippos and one female were surgically sterilized, with a plan in place to neutralize another 40 over the next year.
If the hippos are allowed to continue their wanton reproduction, it is feared they will displace native species like the West Indian manatee, otter, caiman, and critically endangered river turtles. As the invaders eat tons of vegetation they poop proportionately, so much so that the lakes they wallow in have elevated nutrients and bacteria, causing toxic algae blooms that kill off aquatic fauna.
Catching and sterilizing an aggressive hippopotamus is difficult and expensive — each procedure costs about $10,000 — and entails risks to both the hippo and the sterilizer. In addition to this drastic population-control measure, Colombia is also looking into gifting some of the big beasts to other countries, with Mexico, India, and the Philippines reportedly interested.
The government estimates there are 169 hippos in Colombia in or near the river basin, and that if the population is unchecked there could be 1,000 or more by 2035.
Photo credit: Colombian Ministry of Environment
