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Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
Sat Oct 16, 2021, 12:11 AM Oct 2021

Colombia sterilizes 24 hippos on former estate of drug lord Escobar

Last edited Sat Oct 16, 2021, 01:07 AM - Edit history (1)

By AFP
Published October 15, 2021

Handout photo released by CORNARE of hippos at a care centre in Doradal, Antioquia Department, northeast of Bogota, Colombia bon October 15, 2021 - Copyright AFP/File STR

Twenty-four out of 80 hippopotamuses roaming on the former ranch of the late Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar were sterilized due to the “uncontrolled” spreading of this “invasive” species, authorities said on Friday.

Before he was shot dead by police in 1993, the notorious Escobar had purchased a number of exotic animals to live on his ranch, including flamingos, giraffes, zebras and kangaroos.

After his death, all but the hippopotamuses were sold to zoos.

Escobar originally acquired a single male and female hippos.

They were left to roam on his Hacienda Napoles estate, which has since been converted into a theme park, as they were considered to large to try to move, but since then their numbers have multiplied.

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/colombia-sterilizes-24-hippos-on-former-estate-of-drug-lord-escobar/article#ixzz79QWsgsXJ

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Colombia sterilizes 24 hippos on former estate of drug lord Escobar (Original Post) Judi Lynn Oct 2021 OP
All 80 hippos came from the original two? Merlot Oct 2021 #1
It took a while, but I just found an article which says there were 4 original "water horses"! Judi Lynn Oct 2021 #3
A herd of 'cocaine hippos' from Pablo Escobar's private zoo are being sterilized Judi Lynn Oct 2021 #2

Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
3. It took a while, but I just found an article which says there were 4 original "water horses"!
Sat Oct 16, 2021, 01:42 PM
Oct 2021

Pablo Escobar's 'cocaine hippos' may be helping river ecosystems in Colombia
By Mindy Weisberger March 30, 2020

The hippo horde now numbers 80 animals or more.

Hippos that were brought to Colombia decades ago by Pablo Escobar, the notorious cocaine kingpin, are now thriving in the country's river ecosystems. Scientists even suspect that river habitats may benefit from the presence of these non-native hippos, with the large herbivores filling an ecological niche that has been vacant in the region for thousands of years.

Many species of big plant-eaters that once roamed the planet were driven to extinction beginning about 100,000 years ago, with extinctions peaking toward the end of the Pleistocene Epoch (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago). As big herbivorous animals vanished, their absence starved the soil of nutrients, altered plant growth and even affected water flow and availability, researchers wrote in a new study.

However, newly introduced nonnative herbivores — such as Escobar's "cocaine hippos" — could revitalize and enrich such ecosystems, and could do so in locations around the world, the scientists reported.

Escobar imported four hippos from America in 1981, for a private zoo at his hacienda near Medellín, Colombia. After his drug empire collapsed, the hippos escaped and have been breeding in the wild ever since, now numbering 80 individuals or more, Scientific American reported in February.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/cocaine-hippos-boost-colombian-ecosystem.html

Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
2. A herd of 'cocaine hippos' from Pablo Escobar's private zoo are being sterilized
Sat Oct 16, 2021, 01:40 PM
Oct 2021

The 80-strong bloat, originally part of the Colombian drug lord’s estate, present an environmental concern as an invasive species


Edward Helmore
Sat 16 Oct 2021 11.08 EDT

A group of rampant hippopotamuses, introduced by the late Colombia drug lord Pablo Escobar to his private zoo, are being sterilized by the country’s wildlife services, after mounting concern that the 80-strong herd presented a potential environmental disaster as an invasive species.

The so-called “cocaine hippos”, whose number has more than doubled since 2012, were sterilized after worries have mounted over their environmental impact, including a threat to human safety.

The decision to neutralize the herd’s breeding potential comes after a study earlier this year concluded that the animals had become a hazard. The hippos, which were originally introduced to Escobar’s Hacienda Napoles estate, are one of the most enduring legacies of the notorious cocaine trafficker, who was killed by police in 1993.

The study, by researchers at Mexican and Colombian universities, had found that the hippos had bred so successfully that they had spread out from their original home, nearly 100 miles east of the city of Medellín, in the Antioquia department, dispersing around the Magdalena river basin and, as such, should be considered a major invasive species.

The study, published in the journal Biological Conservation, recommended the herd be culled. But others promoted sterilization, citing animal rights concerns and support for the African interlopers that have become a tourist attraction that local people feel affection for.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/16/cocaine-hippos-pablo-escobar-sterilized-colombia

Colombia's Escobar hippos!



















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