Colombian authorities on Monday authorized a plan to cull dozens of free-roaming hippos. These are descendants of the four hippos brought from Africa by Pablo Escobar.
These hippos, present in a region in the center of the country, threaten villagers and hunt native species.
Environment Minister Irene Vélez said previous methods to control their population had been costly and unsuccessful, including sterilizing some animals or transferring them to zoos.
The minister specified that up to 80 hippos would be affected by this measure.
She did not specify when the hunt would begin.
"If we don't do this, we won't be able to control the population ," said Irene Vélez. "We must take this measure to preserve our ecosystems."
A "legacy" left by Pablo Escobar
Colombia is the only country outside of Africa to host a population of wild hippos.
These are the offspring of four hippos - three females and one male - brought to the country in the 1980s by Escobar, when he was building a private zoo at Hacienda Nápoles, a gigantic ranch located in the Magdalena River valley and equipped with a private airstrip which served as his rural residence.
A study published by the National University of Colombia estimated that approximately 170 hippos were living in the wild in the country in 2022.
Recently, hippos have been sighted in areas more than 100 kilometers north of the ranch.
Colombian environmental authorities say these mammals pose a threat to villagers who have encountered them on farms and in rivers. They also compete for food and space with local species such as manatees.
Despite these challenges, the hippos have also become a tourist attraction, with residents of the villages surrounding the Hacienda Nápoles offering hippo viewing excursions and selling themed souvenirs.
Hippos are also one of the main attractions at the Nápoles Ranch, which was confiscated by the Colombian government during the seizure of Escobar's assets. It now operates as a theme park, offering swimming pools, water slides, and a zoo housing several other African species.
A plan that is not universally accepted.
Animal welfare advocates in Colombia have long opposed proposals to cull hippos, arguing that they deserve to live. They maintain that resolving the problem through violence sets a bad example for a country that has endured decades of internal conflict.
Andrea Padilla, a senator and animal rights activist who helped draft a law against bullfighting in Colombia, called the plan to slaughter the hippos a "cruel" decision and accused government officials of looking for the easy way out.
"Murders and massacres will never be acceptable," she wrote on X. "These are healthy creatures who are victims of the negligence" of government entities.
Over the past 12 years, under three successive presidencies, Colombia has attempted to sterilize some hippos in order to reduce their population. However, these initiatives have had limited impact due to the high costs associated with capturing these dangerous animals and surgically sterilizing them.
Because the hippos in Colombia come from a limited genetic heritage and can carry diseases, their return to their natural habitat in Africa has been deemed impossible.
