Pablo Escobar's cocaine hippos to be sterilised as 150 take over Colombia waters

17 November 2023 , 13:59

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The cocaine hippos are taking over (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Hippos once owned by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar which he illegally imported into Colombia for his private zoo back in the 1980s are set to be sterilised after causing havoc when they escaped.

Escobar had originally purchased just four of the huge animals, but once they got out into the wild they have gone on to produce 150 more - known as the cocaine hippos. The population is said to be taking over the country's waterways. According to recent research, the animals are classified as an invasive species and are on their way to numbering in the thousands.

A study published in the journal Ecology found that these massive hippos have been excreting their waste into the local lakes and rivers and substantially changing the oxygen levels and chemistry of the waters. The researchers from the University of California and the Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, believe the population will continue to increase, causing further environmental damage.

Pablo Escobar wanted a zoo (AFP via Getty Images)

The Colombian government has now announced it would begin the process of surgically sterilising 40 hippos a year, in a last-ditch attempt to keep the population under control. They have also discussed sending some of the animals abroad or even putting some of them to sleep. Hippopotamuses can run at up to 20mph and are believed to be the deadliest large land mammal, killing an estimated 500 people per year in Africa alone.

The government estimates there are 169 hippos in Colombia, especially in the Magdalena River basin, and that if no measures are taken, there could be more than 1,000 by 2035.

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According to the BBC, Escobar's zoo featured exotic wildlife such as elephants and giraffes to go along with the hippopotamuses, which he created when he was bringing in an estimated £346million a week through drugs. After the Colombian police shot and killed Escobar in 1993, the government took control of the animals.

Some of the animals were transferred to facilities around the world, but the hippos were left behind, eventually escaping and reverting to a more feral state.

Kelly-Ann Mills