The ‘cocaine hippos’ have posed a problem for Colombia (Picture: Newsflash)
A wildlife expert has accused wildlife officials responsible for drug lord Pablo Escobar’s private zoo of hippos of secretly planning to kill the animals.
The hippos bred in the wild after escaping from the cocaine kingpin’s estate when he was shot dead in a police raid in 1993.
Since then Colombia has struggled to find a way to deal with the ever-growing herd, which have continued to devastate local flora and fauna.
Officials were due to ship 74 of the so-called cocaine hippos to wildlife refuges in Mexico, India and Peru, but a year later the animals have still not been sent.
Now Mexico’s Ostok Sanctuary director Ernesto Zazueta has accused Colombia’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of plotting ‘ethical euthanasia’.
He claims, according to local media, that they are delaying the transfer so they can wipe out the whole herd of 179 and be rid of the problem forever.
Many of the hippos live in Hacienda Napoles, Colombia (Picture: Newsflash)
He said: ‘We have all the documentation, we have complied with everything, but there is simply no political will to make the move.
‘They deserve to live, we have done everything possible and we are not going to rest until we achieve it.’
Zazueta said: ‘I really regret that the process is not moving forward, a year is a long time and although we understand that some successful castrations have been done, it is not enough to stop the problem.
‘Such a number of animals reproduce rapidly, the ecosystem and all its fauna and flora continue to deteriorate. Of course we remain willing and with all the procedures and logistics very advanced.
‘We not only represent the Ostok Sanctuary in Mexico but Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in India and Peru.’
In November 2023, the Colombian Environment Minister, Susana Muhamad, officially announced that the hippo colony would be moved.
Escobar bought the hippos for his lavish estate in the 1990s (Picture: Shutterstock)
One local spoke about their fears over the animals, telling Fox News: ‘They’re very, very dangerous. The hippos have started to attack people.’
Others have branded the beasts as ‘aggressive’ and ‘unpredictable’, and said they ‘hide’ if they come across a member of the herd.
Environmental minister Muhamad previously told the New York Times: ‘We are in a race against time in terms of permanent environmental and ecosystem impacts’.
The environmental authorities have said two male hippos and one female underwent surgical sterilization in November, as part of a larger government effort to control the unsupervised mammals that roam free in rivers.
Last year one of his hippos was killed as it crossed the road and was hit by a Renault Duster.
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