Colombian authorities launched an operation Thursday to sterilize late drug trafficker Pablo Escobar’s hippos, which have been wreaking havoc on local flora and fauna for some thirty years.
The Colombian Ministry of the Environment classified the species as “invasive” in February 2022. So far only three of them have been sterilized as part of this population control operation, but the government program plans to control about forty per year until 2025.
Sterilizing these giant mammals is an alternative to the planned 2022 hunt, which was poorly received by animal rights activists, NBC News reported.
However, this method is very expensive, costing about $10,000 (Canadian $13,718) per operation and requires the capture of the three-ton animals: a complicated task according to Colombian environmental authorities.
Population control is also carried out through other measures, such as sending several animals to zoos abroad, particularly in Mexico and India.
Four animals were allegedly imported from Africa in the 1980s by famous drug trafficker Pablo Escobar. Today, more than a hundred descendants of these hippos have invaded Colombian forests and rivers and their numbers could rise to thousands within ten years, threatening the survival of native species, American media reported.