Colombian court orders hunt for Escobar's hippos September 9, 2024

Photo of 2 adult hippos

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Colombian court orders hunt for Escobar's hippos

A Colombian court on Friday ordered the hunting of hippos, introduced into the country in the 1980s by drug lord Pablo Escobar.

The Cundinamarca Administrative Court set a deadline of three months for the Environment Ministry to issue “a regulation that includes measures for the eradication of the species”, which is affecting the “ecological balance” of the area.

In their native Africa, the animals are responsible for more human deaths than almost any other animal, but in Colombia, hippos have become beloved members of the local community and a tourist attraction.

They are also causing more and more problems for the local community near Escobar's former ranch in the state of Antioquia - a problem that experts fear could soon turn deadly.

After Escobar's death, the hippos from his private zoo went into the wild, in an area of abundant vegetation where there were no predators.

There are currently around 166 two-ton animals roaming freely.

Attacks on fishermen in the Magdalena River have been reported, and experts argue that manatee populations may be threatened - although animal rights activists and tourism workers oppose hippo hunting.

The court specified that measures to eliminate hippos should include “controlled hunting and sterilization”.

The Environment Ministry had already announced plans last year to sterilize part of the population and euthanize others, as part of an effort to contain the growing number of hippos.

The sterilizations are taking place slowly and no cases of euthanasia have been carried out.

Plans to transfer the animals to Mexico, India, or the Philippines have also failed.

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