Colombia Plans to Ship 70 of Pablo Escobar's 'Cocaine Hippos' to New Homes in India and Mexico
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Colombia has announced a plan to transfer more than 70 hippos to India and Mexico in an effort to control their population. The animals are descendants of four African hippopotamuses illegally imported by the notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar in the 1980s.
According to USA Today, the so-called "cocaine hippos" have become an invasive species in the South American country, where more than 130 are now settled into a favorable habitat that stretches beyond Hacienda Napoles, Escobar's former estate, along the Magdalena River.
In the years since the animals — which have no natural predators in Colombia — were introduced by Escobar, they have damaged the ecosystem and continue to pose a threat to humans, the outlet said.
Hippos are aggressive, territorial animals that can weigh up to three tons and are among the world's most dangerous animals, per National Geographic. They are also responsible for an estimated 500 deaths around the world each year, NPR reported.
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Scientists have raised concerns that the hippos' insatiable appetite for vegetation is crowding out native animals, polluting soil and water, and threatening biodiversity, USA Today also noted.
Per CBS News, the Colombian government declared them a toxic invasive species in 2022. After being sued over its plan to sterilize or kill the animals, a federal court ruled that the hippos can be recognized as "interested persons" with legal rights in the U.S. The order, however, does not carry any significance in Colombia.
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Colombian officials now plan to lure the hippos with food into large, iron containers and transfer them by truck to the international airport in Rionegro, about 93 miles away.
"It is possible to do, we already have experience relocating hippos in zoos nationwide," David Echeverri López, a spokesman for Cornare, the local environmental group leading the relocations, told CBS News.
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From there, the hippos will then be flown to their new home countries.
Sixty will be sent to the Greens Zoological Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom in India, per USA Today.
The remaining 10 hippos will go to zoos and sanctuaries in Mexico, including the Ostok in Sinaloa, along the Gulf of California.
