Colombia on Tuesday began sterilizing hippos, descendants of animals illegally brought into the country by the late drug lord Pablo Escobar in the 1980s.
Two male hippos and a female hippopotamus underwent surgical sterilization, environmental authorities said. It was part of a larger government effort to control the population of more than 100 mammals that roam unattended in some rivers.
The plan calls for sterilizing 40 hippos every year, transferring some to other countries and possibly euthanizing them.
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The hippos, which spread from Escobar’s estate to the nearby rivers where they lived, have no natural enemies in Colombia and have been declared an invasive species that could disrupt the ecosystem.
In the 1980s, a group of hippos were brought to Hacienda Nápoles, Escobar’s private zoo, which became a tourist attraction after his death in 1993. Most animals live freely in rivers and reproduce uncontrollably.
Scientists warn that hippo feces are changing the composition of rivers and could impact the habitat of native manatees and capybaras.
Hippos swim in the lagoon at Hacienda Napoles Park, once the private property of drug lord Pablo Escobar, who decades ago imported three female and one male hippos in Puerto Triunfo, Colombia, Thursday, February 4, 2021. Fernando Vergara / AP
Independent journalist Audrey Huse, who has lived in Colombia for eight years, told CBS News that because the hippos move freely, they end up killing fish and threatening endemic species such as manatees, otters and turtles.
“Because they don’t have natural enemies here like they would in Africa, the population is booming and it’s affecting the local ecosystem,” Huse said. “Because they are such large animals, they eat significant amounts of grassland and produce significant waste, which then poisons the rivers.”
Sterilization takes time because identifying and capturing the territorial, aggressive three-ton animals is complicated, said David Echeverry López, head of the environmental agency in charge of the plan, in a video distributed to the press.
Rain events in the area complicated efforts to capture the animals. More grass means “they have an excess supply of food, so it becomes even more complicated to bait them to catch them,” Echeverry said.
The government estimates that there are 169 hippos in Colombia, particularly in the Magdalena River basin. If no action is taken, there could be 1,000 by 2035.
When the plan was first announced, the Environment Ministry said the procedure was expensive – each sterilization costs about $9,800 – and posed risks to the hippopotamus, including allergic reactions to anesthesia or death, as well as risks to animal health workers.
Experts say sterilization alone is not enough to control the growth of the invasive species, which is why the government is considering the possible movement of hippos to other countries, a plan announced in March. But the cost of deporting the hippos is also high – an estimated $3.5 million.