Colombia orders hunting of Pablo Escobar's out-of-hand hippos, after decades of failed eradication efforts



The hippos have no natural predators and their numbers are growing at a fast pace. (AP: Fernando Vergara)

In short:

Colombia's hippopotamus population — all descendants of four hippos illegally imported by Pablo Escobar in the 1980s — can be legally hunted under a new court order.

Officials in Bogota gave the go-ahead for the invasive animal's "controlled hunting and sterilisation" this week as a last-ditch attempt at their eradication.
What's next?

A three-month deadline has been set to issue regulations charting out the hippos' removal from the country

A Colombian court has called for the hunting of hippos that were introduced to the country in the 1980s by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.

The Administrative Court of Cundinamarca on Friday local time set a three-month deadline for the Ministry of Environment to issue "a regulation that contemplates measures for the eradication of the species", which is affecting the area's "ecological balance".

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

They have also been increasingly posing problems for the local community near Escobar's old ranch in Antioquia state — one that experts worry may soon turn deadly.


Hippos have serious effects on the ecosystem due to their large size, and exert aggression and territorial behaviour towards humans and wildlife. (AP: Fernando Vergara)

After Escobar's death in 1993, hippos from his private zoo escaped into nature in an area of abundant vegetation where there were no predators and they were able to reproduce, creating what is today their largest population outside Africa.

Starting from just four hippos Escobar smuggled in, there are now some 166 of the two-tonne beasts wandering freely, with authorities remaining unsuccessful in curbing their numbers over the past two decades.

Attacks on fishermen have been reported on the Magdalena River and experts argue manatee populations could be threatened. According to BBC Wildlife, hippos cause an estimated 500 human deaths annually.

First for a US court

Photo shows A mugshot of infamous drug cartel leader Pablo Escobar.

In a first, the US Federal Court has recognised animals as legal persons — specifically, the descendants of Pablo Escobar's hippopotamuses who have thrived in Colombia since the notorious drug lord was killed almost 30 years ago.

However, animal rights activists and tourism workers oppose hippopotamus hunting.

The killing of one of these hippos, nicknamed Pepe, in 2009 raised a furore in Colombia and saw street protests, eventually prompting a ban on hippo hunting in 2012.

The court specified that measures to eliminate the hippos should include "controlled hunting and sterilisation".

Last year the environmental ministry had already announced plans to sterilise part of the population, while euthanasing others, as part of an effort to contain the growing number.

The sterilisations have proceeded slowly while no cases of euthanasia have been carried out.

Plans to relocate the animals to Mexico, India or the Philippines — estimated to cost about $3.5 million — have also floundered.

Along with the human threat, hippos being an invasive species also have a heavy toll on the environment, consuming vegetation extensively, destroying wildlife, and altering local landscapes.

ABC/AFP