Descendents Of Hippos Owned By Drug Kingpin Pablo Escobar May Be Shipped To India - Here's Why

The plan to move the hippos has been in the works for more than a year, and they would be lured into large containers with food and then transferred by truck to an airport in Rionegro, where they would be flown to sanctuaries and zoos in India and Mexico, reported AP.

Pic Credit: File Photo

The descents of the four illegally brought hippopotamuses brought from Africa by Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in the 1980s are posing problems for Colombia now. Around 70 of the hippos may be moved to India and Mexico to control their growing population. As per an AP report, these hippos, which are very territorial and can weigh up to 3 tons, have reproduced and spread beyond the Hacienda Napoles ranch and could reach a population of 400 in eight years.

Why do they need to be relocated?

Scientists warn that they are a potential threat to biodiversity and that their feces could impact the habitat of other animals in local rivers, reported AP. The scientists had warned that they don't have a natural predator in Colombia and hence pose a threat to the other animals.

The plan to move the hippos has been in the works for more than a year, and they would be lured into large containers with food and then transferred by truck to an airport in Rionegro, where they would be flown to sanctuaries and zoos in India and Mexico. Sixty hippos would go to the Greens Zoological Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom in Gujarat, India, and 10 would be sent to sanctuaries and zoos in Mexico.

Hippos may be sent to Greens Zoological Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom in Gujarat

This relocation would help control the hippo population and is considered more humane than exterminating them as an "invasive" species. The relocation plan is focused on the hippos living in the rivers surrounding the Hacienda Napoles ranch, not those inside the ranch. Other countries, including Ecuador, the Philippines, and Botswana, have also expressed their interest in relocating the Colombian hippos.

David Echeverri López, a spokesman for Cornare, the local environmental authority that would be in charge of the relocations told AP, "It is possible to do, we already have experience relocating hippos in zoos nationwide."