Rio de Janeiro, Jan. 20, (dpa/GNA) – Conservationists concerned about the mating habits of a group of hippos that once belonged to drug baron Pablo Escobar in Colombia have recommended they be culled.
Escobar initially introduced four original African hippos to the land surrounding his Hacienda Napoles residence. Now the population has grown to an estimated 65 to 80 animals.
“Our results show the urgent need for the Colombian authorities to make critical management decisions to limit the population and the spread of the hippos,” researchers wrote this month in the journal Biological Conservation.
Culling the animals is the only way to get the problem under control, they added, warning that hippos destroy fields, endanger local residents and disturb the ecosystem.
The Hacienda Napoles fell into disrepair after Escobar was shot and killed by security forces in 1993.
The hippos then took to the surrounding woods and reproduced. Isolated attacks on humans made castrating or sterilizing the animals to control the population both difficult and dangerous.
Biologist David Echeverry from the state environmental agency Cornare told CNN that though killing the hippos had always been an option, it was difficult to contemplate actually doing so. Not least because the so-called “cocaine hippos” have become a bit of a tourist attraction.
GNA