On Saturday, March 4, reports emerged that the Colombia government is planning to fly as many as 60 of its ‘cocaine hippos’ to India and 10 others to Mexico in a bid to control their booming population in the South American nation. Several media reports have quoted the local governor as confirming the proposal. These hippos are the descendants of the hippos kept at the private zoo of drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Pablo Escobar’s “cocaine hippos” to reach India from Colombia. Here is why#cocainehippos #hippos #ZeeOriginals pic.twitter.com/5aRcCJ9d4D
— Zee News English (@ZeeNewsEnglish) March 4, 2023
Colombia is considering relocating these gigantic animals as they feel it poses a threat to the region’s biodiversity as their numbers are increasing and the faeces of these animals change the composition of the rivers and could impact the habitat of manatees and capybaras. They have no natural predators, making it difficult to control their growing population. Moreover, experts have also cautioned the country about the chances of deadly animal-human encounters.
In an interview with Colombian media house Blu Radio, Antioquia province’s governor Aníbal Gaviria said that they are considering to translocate the hippopotamuses to India and Mexico because these two countries have the capacity to receive them, manage them properly and control their reproduction. He said that sending the hippos back to their native place Africa is not possible because “it is not allowed”.
According to CNN, authorities have used castration and shots of contraceptive darts to try and manage the population. The efforts, however, have not been especially fruitful.
According to Lina Marcela de los Ríos Morales, director of animal protection and welfare at Antioquia’s environment ministry, the proposal to transport them to India and Mexico has been in the pipeline for more than a year.
The idea is to lure the hippos into custom-made containers using food and transfer them by trucks to the city of Rionegro, from where they will then be transported by air to Mexico and India. If the plan materialises, 60 of the “cocaine hippos” will be flown to India and housed at Gujarat’s Greens Zoological Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom. The rest will be sent to Ostok Sanctuary in Mexico.
Ernesto Zazueta, president of the Ostok Sanctuary, is also acting as a liaison between Colombia and India. He said that they will charter cargo planes, capable of carrying 20 to 30 hippos, from Belarusian company Rada Airlines. A trip to Mexico will cost $400,000, while the cost of a trip to India will be $900,000. He added that resources for this translocation will go from India and Mexico. The entire process will be documented by an Argentine documentary producer.
He clarified that they are doing this for the well-being of the animals, not because of their historical association with Pablo Escobar.
Lina de los Ríos Morales, director of animal protection and welfare in a regional branch of Colombia’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, confirmed that they are working with Ernesto Zazueta for the project. Lina de los Ríos Morales added that the plan is in the works for more than a year, but the process of obtaining necessary permits is pending.
According to the governor’s office, Antioquia, Ecuador, the Philippines, and Botswana have also expressed willingness to bring home the Colombian cocaine hippos.
What are ‘cocaine hippos’
Notably, the ‘cocaine hippos’ are descendants of four hippos, one male and three females, that deceased Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar kept at the private zoo on his estate in Hacienda Nápoles. He had smuggled these four hippos from Africa or the United States, illegally in the 1980s, to go with his collection of other exotic animals in his private zoo.
The private zoo in the Hacienda Nápoles had various animals like giraffes, elephants, antelope, exotic birds etc, apart from the hippos. The estate of the drug lord also had a private airport, a brother, a formula-1 racing track, and a large collection of cars.
The government had taken control of the property after he was shot and killed by police in 1993. After that, most of the animals living in Escobar’s ranch were relocated by authorities. However, the hippos were permitted to roam freely on the drug lord’s estate because it was too difficult to transport them as each weigh up to three tonnes (3000 kg). The hippos started living in the Magdalena River and some small lakes in the area.
The hippos thrived at the abandoned estate, where they managed to survive due to favourable climatic conditions and the absence of natural predators. Soon they started multiplying. From the initial four hippos, their population started growing steadily and spread way beyond the Hacienda Napoles ranch. At present, there are 130-140 hippos in the region, and without population control measures, their numbers could go up to 400 in the coming years. In the next 16 years, the numbers could swell to 1500, if not controlled.
Last year, Colombia’s government declared them a toxic invasive species.
At present, the Colombian authorities plan to shift the hippos living in the rivers and lakes outside the ranch, not the ones inside the Hacienda Napoles ranch, because they are in a controlled environment and don’t threaten the local ecosystem.
It is being said that translocating the hippos is a more humane approach then castrating or killing them. During the 2000s, the government had allowed hunting of the animals. But when photos of a hippo shot dead by soldiers appeared on media, it created a massive outrage, and the govt stopped the move.
Namibia Cheetahs to be brought to India from South Africa
India recently received cheetahs from Namibia, as part of a reintroduction project. Cheetahs were declared extinct in India in 1952. On 16th February 2023, Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change announced the relocation of twelve Cheetahs from South Africa to India. The cheetahs were brought to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park on February 18, 2023. This was the second batch of cheetahs brought to India, after 8 cheetahs brought from Namibia by India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in a historic first wild-to-wild intercontinental relocation, were released in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh on 17 September 2022.
