Fears Pablo Escobar’s escaped herd of lustful cocaine hippos will explode SIX-FOLD into an army of 1,000 after culls stop

World

HORNY cocaine hippos who have escaped from Pablo Escobar’s private zoo are set to multiply sixfold into a menacing 1,000-strong army.

The storm could cause major damage to Colombian nature government officials are not accelerating culling plans.

Cocaine hippos have escaped from Pablo Escobar's zoo — Cocaine hippos have escaped from Pablo Escobar’s zooCredit: AP

They are now expected to disrupt Columbia's wildlife — They are now expected to disrupt Columbia’s wildlifeCredit: AFP

Last year the government said it planned to solve the problem with a cull and sterilization programCredit: AP

Last year, ColombiaEnvironment Minister Susana Muhamad announced their intention to resolve the problem.

She said a culling program would run alongside a sterilization program with plans to send the lecherous beasts to new locations. houses in other countries.

But no action has been taken since then.

The terrifying creatures were rounded up a year ago, but wildlife specialists complain they are still waiting for permits to move more than 70 of them.

The specialists captured and selected the animals with the intention of transporting them to new places houses in MexicoIndia and Peru.

Alarmingly, experts say their population could rise to 1,000 by 2035 if their numbers are not controlled.

In addition to devastating local flora, bacteria The hippos’ feces and urine are poisonous to Colombian wildlife, scientists believe.

The chilling flock, now nearly 170 strong, it was bred in the wild from four original hippos who escaped after the cocaine king was shot dead thirty years ago.

Escobar kept the animals in his bizarre menagerie at his Hacienda Napoles estate in Puerto Triunfo, Colombia.

Ernesto Zazueta, president of the Association of Zoos, Hatcheries and Aquariums of Mexico (AZCARM), spoke to local media and told them he is still waiting for the travel permits.

Zazueta said: “There are many rumors that we are no longer willing to continue this rescue operation. I want to make it clear that of course we still want to and that all the procedures and logistics are very advanced.”

Of the 169 hippos found in the wild around the Magdalena River, 60 would be taken to India, 10 to Mexico and four to Peru.

Zauzeta said: “We are in the best position to continue working to help the Government of Colombia with this major environmental challenge.

“However, we must also respect their decisions and their laws and regulations.

“This is not about a fight, it is about a binational cooperation in wildlife management, which is so indispensable today in the face of the extinction of so many thousands of species around the world.”

According to the expert, a year is too long to carry out this process and the sterilization program is not sufficient.

And culling wouldn’t work because it’s almost as expensive as capturing and transporting the animals.

“Such a number of animals reproduce rapidly, and the ecosystem and all its fauna and flora continue to decline,” Zauzeta explains.

He added: “We hope that differences will be put aside and that we can work together in a coordinated and professional manner to tackle this environmental problem, as with every minute that passes the most humanitarian option becomes further away.”