'I was terrified': the vet sterilizing Pablo Escobar's cocaine hippos
The progeny of animals brought illegally to Colombia and kept in the drug lord’s private zoo must now be put on birth control
Joe Parkin Daniels in Bogotá
@joeparkdan
Sat 23 Oct 2021 00.01 EDT
Pablo Escobar’s zoo had four illegally imported hippos. The feral herd now numbers about 80. Photograph: Joaquín Sarmiento/AFP/Getty Images
When Gina Paola Serna studied to become a biologist and veterinarian in Colombia, she never expected to one day be tasked with neutering an invasive herd of hippos that once belonged to Pablo Escobar.
When they were smuggled into the drug lord’s private zoo in the 1980s, there were just four hippos. But in the 26 years since Escobar’s death, their numbers have steadily grown : the herd now includes about 80 animals – threatening to disrupt ecosystems in Colombia. So now, Serna spends her days tracking and sterilizing the hulking riverine mammals.
“The first time I worked with a hippo I was terrified – these are animals way bigger than we are used to working with in Colombia,” Serna said, before another day in the field. “These are massive and territorial animals, so everything is complicated when it comes to working with them.”
The so called “cocaine hippos” were illegally brought to Colombia and kept in a zoo Escobar built on his vast Hacienda Nápoles estate, along the River Magdalena. He brought rhinos, giraffes and zebras to his menagerie. Oral history suggests his associates were wowed by his collection of spectacular beasts of the wild, which included about 200 animals.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/22/vet-sterilising-pablo-escobar-hippos
