Update 04/13/2023 7:33pm:
According to the environmental authorities in Bogotá, Colombia, a descendant of Pablo Escobar's infamous "Cocaine Hippos" lost its life in a freak accident after colliding with an SUV on a highway Tuesday evening. This sad incident represents yet another highly publicized occurrence in the controversial history of these vast semiaquatic mammals since being transported to the region by the country's most infamous drug lord in the 1970s. In the past fifty-plus years, not only have these hippos reshaped the ecosystem of their newfound habitat, but they have been the subject of a long and drawn-out dispute between government officials who want them gone and animal rights activists who want to preserve one of the most unique tourist attractions in the country.
Fortunately, the people involved in the car accident were uninjured but for the people of the area, this tragedy once again shifted the spotlight back to the "Cocaine Hippos" as politicians and scientists remain without a resolution for the ongoing dilemma.
“This is one of the dangers that the presence of this species represents. Many of them cross the highway where many vehicles pass, it is also a danger to people,” said David Echeverri López, a biologist from an environmental group called CORNARE. “Hippos are unpredictable, at any moment, they can attack a person."
Source: ABC News
Original 03/13/2023 4:33pm:
Of all the wild subplots involving Narcos in the U.S. and Latin America, the legacy of Pablo Escobar's pet hippos remains a fascinating narrative that continues to write itself. According to the legend, in the late 80s, Pablo illegally procured four hippos from Africa before relocating them to a homestead of his called Hacienda Nápoles (in the Colombian town of Puerto Triunfo). In 1993, law enforcement killed the famous drug lord during an arrest attempt before making the costly decision not to remove the hippos from his estate. Instead, Pablo's giant pets were allowed to integrate into the wild before being nicknamed by locals the "Cocaine Hippos." What happened next would completely disrupt the region's ecosystem.
Local officials did not anticipate that the "Cocaine Hippos" would become far more sexually proactive than their predecessors from Africa as they procreated at an alarming rate. Additionally, the 4,000-pound semiaquatic mammals drastically changed the food chain by practically obliterating the fish supply in their new habitat and contaminating the area's water systems with their toxic feces. To make matters worse, these hippos don't have a natural predator in the area, which could help balance the biocommunity.
Despite the long list of setbacks and burdens that the "Cocaine Hippos" generated for people who live near Colombia's Magdalena River (and the nearby lakes), the animals have become a beloved part of the community and an international tourist attraction. In fact, there's a hippo economy in Colombia that has established tourist shops, eateries, and safari rides based on the large hairless animals. Hence, the prospect of forcibly removing the "Cocaine Hippos" from the country has pitted human rights groups against government environmental officials who have tried various ways of controlling the population of hippos in the area with tactics such as gunning them down or a slightly more humane option--castration. Still, the animals are so strong that even that hasn't always worked.
"We are talking about an animal that can weigh five tonnes and be very aggressive," said Carlos Valderrama, who once performed a castration on one of Pablo's hippos in 2008. "Even though we had sedated the animal, it almost tipped the crane we were using to help with the procedure. It was like being with a dinosaur in a Jurassic Park movie."
Today, it is estimated that roughly 133 "Cocaine Hippos" currently reside in Colombia. After a hippo named Pele was fatally shot in 2009, the country passed legislation to protect the animals from being killed. Nevertheless, the troublesomeness of hosting the hippos remains a glaring dilemma. Two years ago, Colombia deemed Pablo's "Cocaine Hippos" as topically invasive. In response, local human rights groups countered the action by pushing for a law that would eventually equate the existence of hippos to the life of a human being, meaning they can no longer be harmed legally. So, with extermination off the table, government officials in Colombia have set their sights on another option, massive relocation. According to reports, Colombia will transfer 70 "Cocaine Hippos" to Mexico and India. For the Colombian government, the strategy behind the tall task of capturing 70 hippos hinges on their ability to entice the animals with large amounts of food before loading them on trucks and transporting them to the José María Córdova International Airport in the city of Rionegro. From there, 60 hippos will be flown to Gujarat, India, and the remaining 10 will be taken to their new home in Sinaloa, Mexico.
Source: People
