July 27, 2024, 11:40 am | Read time: 7 minutes

In Africa, they are endangered, but in Colombia, they are an invasive threat to the local ecosystem: hippos. PETBOOK explains how the pachyderms came to the South American continent through drug lord Pablo Escobar and what the country and its people think of these “cocaine hippos” today.

Pablo Escobar viewed himself as a benefactor, bringing hippos to Colombians

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, the full name of the world’s most famous drug lord, brought hippos to his native Colombia in the 1980s. By this time, he and his cartel had already created a monopoly on the cocaine trade in the USA and made millions of dollars from it.

Escobar also considered himself a patron of the less affluent population. In his villa, the Hacienda Nápoles, he created a private zoo that Colombians were allowed to visit free of charge. There, they were able to marvel at giraffes, elephants, zebras, tigers, and flamingos for the first time. Or even hippos.

However, after Escobar’s death in 1993, the hippos were mostly left to survive on their own. Some were given to other zoos or presumably stolen, others simply starved to death. However, the hippos in particular found almost ideal conditions in Colombia to reproduce.

Hippos had already set out to colonize Colombia during Escobar’s lifetime

It all started with just four hippos. But even during Escobar’s lifetime, some of them repeatedly went on the move. Since the drug lord was shot dead in 1993, the hippos have been left to fend for themselves. They now live in the Río Magdalena, around 60 kilometers (ca. 37 miles) from the metropolis of Medellín, which also lent its name to Pablo Escobar’s “Medellín Cartel”.

There are no longer four of them, but at least 180, according to scientists’ estimates, and they feel so at home in the river that they devote themselves to their favorite pastime: landscaping. The tropical temperatures and the lush river landscape with plenty of aquatic plants, which the animals can shape to their liking, offer them ideal conditions.

However, the very thing that keeps the ecosystem in their native Africa fertile is a disaster for Colombia. This is because hippos have no natural enemies in the South American country that could regulate their population. Crocodiles and lions are not found there. Instead, they threaten the native flora and fauna with their expansionism and pollution of the waters.

Hippos displace native animals and pollute waters in Colombia

One of the biggest problems caused by hippos in Colombia is their high energy requirement. The mainly vegan animals have to consume up to 40 kilograms (ca. 88 pounds) of food every day. They metabolize a correspondingly large amount, and as they spend up to 16 hours a day in the water, their excrement accumulates in small bodies of water and tributaries of the river. The more hippos that do this, the more serious the consequences for the pH value of the water. The Río Magdalena and the nearby lakes are becoming increasingly acidic, which means death for native aquatic life.

In March 2022, the hippos were declared to be spreading uncontrollably and an invasive species that threatens animals and plants. However, it is not clear what will happen to the hippos now. Initially, it was assumed that they would simply be shot following the Colombian government’s classification. However, there is resistance among the population.

Escobar’s double-edged legacy also earns hippos cult status in Colombia

Many Colombians love their hippos and are more than happy about Escobar’s legacy. Escobar’s villa, which has been converted into a theme park, is still home to Vanessa the hippopotamus lady, who is visited by many tourists every year. Even Escobar himself is not always viewed critically by the population. For some, he is evil personified, for others, he is still the patron who built schools and helped the poorest.

There was also a huge outcry in the country when a hippopotamus bull named Pepe had to be shot in 2009. Pepe was the only male that had been brought into the country by Escobar himself. The Ministry of the Environment released him for shooting, as he had been hanging around settlements, attacking people, and trampling crops. After days of hunting, Pepe was finally shot, and hunters posed with the dead animal.

The role of hippos in Colombia can therefore be viewed from several angles. Some love the thick-skinned immigrants and appreciate the income from tourism, others are justifiably concerned about the environment.

All measures so far have been in vain

In April 2023, a study looked at possible developments for hippos in Colombia. This is because they are reproducing faster than previously assumed. According to scientific projections, there could be up to 1,000 hippos in Colombia by 2035.

In November 2023, the Colombian government announced that something really needed to be done about the hippos. The strategy comprises three tactics: relocation, euthanasia, and sterilization. According to reports, up to 70 hippos will be shipped to zoos around the world, and up to 20 per year will be sterilized.

Nevertheless, numerous attempts to control the population have thus far been unsuccessful. All previous attempts to castrate the bulls and sterilize the females have more or less backfired.

Hippos do not want to be driven out of Colombia

Although hippos eat a purely plant-based diet, they are still one of the deadliest of all animals. It is estimated that they kill around 500 people a year in their native Africa. And in Colombia, too, people have been attacked by hippos long tusks while fishing.

Despite their seemingly cumbersome nature, they can run quite swiftly, easily outpacing any human attempting to escape. On land, hippos can reach a speed of 30 km/h (ca.18.6 mph) and would be able to take the ball from any striker playing soccer. As a result, the planned interventions with these animals are notably challenging.

For one thing, they are extremely expensive and cost 40 million Colombian pesos (approximately 9,121 euros or, 9889 dollars) per animal. Furthermore, they are not as simple as interventions of this kind on dogs and cats, for example. It takes eight people, including four vets, to sterilize a hippopotamus. Capturing these agile and intelligent animals is the initial challenge. After the first attempt in 2023, the cunning pachyderms will no longer be so easy for vets to trap and will avoid the places where they could previously be caught. The future of Escobar’s burdensome legacy in Colombia is yet to be determined.

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Sources

• Shurin, J. B., Aranguren-Riaño, N., Duque Negro, D., Echeverri Lopez, D., Jones, N. T., Laverde-R, O., … & Pedroza Ramos, A. (2020). Ecosystem effects of the world’s largest invasive animal. Ecology, 101(5), e02991. PDF.
• Subalusky, A. L., Sethi, S. A., Anderson, E. P., Jiménez, G., Echeverri-Lopez, D., García-Restrepo, S., … & Rojas, A. (2023). Rapid population growth and high management costs have created a narrow window for control of introduced hippos in Colombia. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 6193.
• Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo sostentible de Colombia, “Documento final con las acciones de manejo, control y erradicación de Hippopotamus amphibius, a través del análisis de la dimensión socio ambiental, demográfica y ecológica de la especie y demás resultados del convenio” 751-2022, PDF.