Colombia will sterilize Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’
When Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was assassinated in 1993, most of the animals he had imported as pets – zebras, giraffes, kangaroos and rhinos – died or were moved to zoos.
But not his four hippos. They flourished. Maybe a little too good.
Officials estimate that about 170 hippos, descendants of Mr. Escobar’s original herd, now roam Colombia, and that the population could grow to 1,000 by 2035, posing a serious threat to the country’s ecosystem.
This month, after years of debate over what to do with the voracious herbivores, Colombian officials announced a plan to sterilize some, possibly euthanize others and move some to sanctuaries in other countries. On Friday, an official said four hippos – two adult females and two young males – had already been surgically sterilized.
“We are in a race against time when it comes to permanent impacts on the environment and the ecosystem,” Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s Environment Minister, said in a statement.
Colombian officials describe the hippos as an aggressive and invasive species with no natural predators.
Mr. Escobar brought the first four to his lavish estate, Hacienda Nápoles, in the 1980s as part of a wild animal menagerie he used to entertain guests.
Mr. Escobar’s son, Juan Pablo Escobar, wrote in a book: “Pablo Escobar: My father,” that his father traveled to a wildlife breeding center in Dallas in the early 1980s, where he made a deal to have the animals brought to his estate. Hacienda Nápoles also had an airstrip, swimming pools and a 1,000-seat bullring.
After Mr. Escobar was killed in a rooftop shootout with security forces in Medellín in 1993, his hippos fended for themselves. They toddled in an artificial pond and reproduced, arousing affection and anger as their numbers multiplied.
The animals became, for better or worse, recognizable mascots in Colombia, commemorated in sculpturesincluding one of a giant pink hippopotamus named Vanesa who greets visitors at Mr. Escobar’s former estate, which has been converted into a theme park.
In the United States, the news media have less nobly dubbed them “cocaine hippos.”
A hunting party that included Colombian soldiers, hoping to prevent the hippos from spreading beyond Mr. Escobar’s estate, shot and killed a person named Pepe in 2009. The hunt sparked public outrage, fueled by the publication of a photo of the soldiers posing with the dead hippo. A judge in Medellín later suspended the hunt for Pepe’s partner and their descendants.
Ms Muhamad blamed three decades of government inaction for allowing the hippos to proliferate far from their native habitat in sub-Saharan Africa. She said 130 to 150 people live in the Magdalena River, Colombia’s main river.
The government’s goal is to sterilize 40 hippos per year.
But spaying a hippo is not the same as spaying or neutering a cat.
Hippos can weigh more than three tons and spend most of their day in the water, making them easiest to catch at night. Experts said they are generally anesthetized with a dart and undergo surgery wherever they end up. If they run into the water after being hit with an arrow, they could drown, experts say.
“This procedure is very dangerous because the veterinarian must be very skilled to sterilize the animal in the shortest time possible before it wakes up,” said Germán Jiménez, a biologist at the Pontifical Javeriana University in Colombia.
The hippos could also be lured to a paddock with vegetables, where it might be easier to operate on them, says Jonathan Shurin, an ecologist at the University of California, San Diego, who has researched the hippos’ effects on water quality in South Africa. Colombia.
“Getting them numbed into a position where you can work on them is the hardest part,” said Dr. Shurin, adding that the venture “is not for amateurs.”
Colombian officials say each sterilization will cost about 40 million pesos, or about $10,000, and will require a team of eight people, including veterinarians, technicians and support staff.
Ms Muhamad said the government was also developing an “ethical euthanasia protocol”, but did not say how many hippos might be targeted or by what method.
Andrea Padilla, a Colombian senator and animal rights activist, said she supported the plan as long as it did not call for the killing of healthy hippos. Euthanasia should be a last resort, she said, “especially in cases of sick animals whose suffering warrants it.”
“The most important thing is to act quickly and effectively” in sterilizing as many hippos as possible, she said, transferring others to sanctuaries and confining the population.
Dr. Shurin said it would be “much more effective and humane” to control the population when it is small than when it is large and may require extensive hunting.
“It has created a lot of strong emotions and sentiments on both sides,” he said. “I think the plan they’ve come up with is very reasonable and sensible, and you’ll be able to see if it works if you don’t see any baby hippos around.”
Researchers have warned that if left unchecked, the hippos could harm other mammals such as manatees and capybarasand that the large amount of waste they produce could alter aquatic ecosystems, leading to harmful algal blooms. As the hippos spread out, they were also able to come into contact with humans more often.
In April, Aníbal Gaviria Correa, the governor of the Colombian region of Antioquia, reported a photo on social media of a dead hippo on a road after being hit by a car. He implored Ms. Muhamad and Colombian President Gustavo Petro to expedite the relocation of what he called “these majestic animals.”
Ms Muhamad said the government was in talks to have some hippos moved to sanctuaries in Mexico, India and the Philippines.
Dr. Jiménez expressed concerns about the plans outlined so far, saying they are “not enough to control the exploding hippo population.” If the hippos are not completely eradicated, Colombia will have to consider “living with this species forever,” he said.