When Escobar surrendered to authorities in 1991, the federal government seized his Hacienda Nápoles property — and allowed the animals to roam free.

Within the 30 years since, the unique hippos — three females and a male — have multiplied to greater than 130. Hippos aren’t native to South America. With out pure predators, the aggressive, territorial animals have settled into the Magdalena River in central Colombia.

Now the insatiable herbivores are devouring flora, crowding out native animals, polluting soil and water, and threatening individuals. (Hippos are among the many world’s most harmful animals, able to killing a human with a single chunk, liable for an estimated 500 deaths annually.)

Brazilians have deserted a whole lot of cats on a abandoned island. Officers do not know find out how to save them.

You’ve heard of Cocaine Bear, the 500-pound black bear in Georgia that overdosed on Colombian powder tossed from a drug smuggler’s airplane? These are Escobar’s cocaine hippos: larger, extra quite a few, deadlier. The Setting Ministry right here final yr labeled them an “invasive species” and banned their copy and commercialization. However the debate over whether or not to preserve or kill them goes again many years.

To some right here, the big mammals have change into quirky, roguish people heroes. However “simply wait and see,” stated David Echeverri, from the regional environmental company Cornare. “As soon as they begin attacking and killing individuals, it’ll all change.”

By 2040, if the invasive species is left alone, the inhabitants might attain 600.

Now authorities say they’ve an answer.

Authorities in Colombia’s Antioquia division, residence to each Medellín and Escobar’s property, plan to seize about 70 of the animals and ship them to sanctuaries in India and Mexico.

Sixty are to be flown to the Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Middle in Gujarat, India. The remaining are to go to the Ostok Sanctuary in Mexico. Ecuador, the Philippines and Botswana are lining up for future shipments.

(Escobar was held within the non-public jail constructed to his specs below a cope with the federal government to keep away from extradition to america. The ability, referred to as the Cathedral, reportedly included a bar, soccer area and telescope so the drug lord might see his daughter in her Medellín residence whereas they spoke by phone. He walked out of the ability in 1992 and was shot to dying by nationwide police the next yr.)

Planning for the hippos’ relocation started a yr and a half in the past, when Sara Jaramillo, an entrepreneur right here who works in animal welfare, requested the Ostok Sanctuary in Culiacán, Mexico, residence to round 400 animals, together with deer and jaguars, whether or not it might be inquisitive about taking a few of them in.

As people keep indoors, wild animals take again what was as soon as theirs

“We began to hunt assets and make preparations,” stated Ernesto Zazueta, president of the Ostok Sanctuary. “Not everyone seems to be keen to switch and maintain them.”

Zazueta stated his group is getting ready a facility to carry the ten hippos out of public view. They received’t be let unfastened, he stated: “In any other case what occurred in Colombia would occur in Mexico.”

Efficient methods to deal with the hippo downside have proved elusive. In 2009, the federal government greenlit a “managed hunt” of a few animals. Federico Pfeil-Schneider, an skilled hunter escorted by the army, killed one.

Then the photograph of its carcass surrounded by proud troopers sparked outrage. Followers named it Pepe; some grieved the loss.

At that time, the inhabitants was lower than three dozen. However politicians dallied, and the numbers ballooned.

A decade in the past, Echeverri launched a sterilization program. Up to now, 13 hippos have been sterilized and 5 have been relocated to native zoos.

“Can we think about these figures a hit?” he mused. “Effectively, capturing and castrating them is so complicated, so harmful and takes so lengthy that the reply ought to be sure. However it’s not an efficient measure.”

Feminine hippos can beginning one calf each two years. The inhabitants is reproducing sooner than people have been sterilized.

Up to now two years, Cornare has added one other method: the chemical contraceptive GonaCon, supplied by the U.S. authorities. It’s utilized by dart rifle on women and men alike.

Final yr, they administered it to 38 hippos — however they don’t have any concepts which of them.

“Monitoring them down is a titanic process,” Echeverri stated. Cornare has tried marking them with paint, satellite tv for pc markers and collars, however the hippos, in some way, have been in a position to take away all of them. This yr, the company plans to load the darts with tattoo ink.

The canine is likely one of the world’s most damaging mammals. Brazil proves it.

Sending the hippos overseas can be costly. Zazueta, of the Mexican sanctuary, additionally acted as a liaison between Colombia and the Indian sanctuary. He stated authorities will constitution cargo planes, able to carrying 20 to 30 hippos, from the Belarusian firm Rada Airways. A flight to Mexico might value $400,000; to India, will probably be $900,000.

Every hippo is to be contained in a particular picket crate that might value as much as $10,000. Sustaining a person prices roughly $2,500 monthly.

“The assets for all of this come from Mexico and India,” Zazueta stated. He stated they’re involved concerning the animals’ well-being; that they’re the progeny of Escobar’s pets is nothing to brag about.

An Argentine documentary producer can be filming the entire course of.

Lina de los Ríos, a spokeswoman for the regional authorities, stated it is a “useful technique to protect these animals, as we don’t imagine their extermination is the best answer.”