Resting tigers and lions, recovering from malnutrition and injuries, are agitated by the sound of the machines. A few yards away, bulldozers are opening up the earth in the Ostok Sanctuary in Culiacan. The engines roar as they build the pond that will house ten of Pablo Escobar’s hippo descendants. From Antioquia, the animals are transported by plane to Culiacan. The operation will cost $450,000 and will be funded by rescuer and shelter owner Ernesto Zazueta. Once in Sinaloa, they travel by road until they take the detour that leads to Jesús María, the bastion where El Chapo’s children hid. A few kilometers from the entrance to the refuge you can still see the black spots, scars on the asphalt from the cars burned during the second “culiacanazo” last January. Pablo Escobar’s hippos will arrive in this country marked by the presence of the Sinaloa cartel.
When Colombia’s most famous drug trafficker brought four specimens of African hippos to his private zoo at Hacienda Nápoles in Antioquia, he could not imagine the consequences. After his death in 1993 the property fell into disrepair. The animals crossed the borders of the country, spread across the Magdalena River and multiplied uncontrollably in a habitat devoid of predators. Of the four cases that existed in the 1980s, 169 have now been identified. Road accidents, crop damage and threats to local wildlife have prompted the community to call for a solution. But how do you control a population of land animals of up to three tons, eating 40 kilos a day and a tourist attraction for some despite social and environmental unrest?
Asian elephant Big Boy feeds along with other animals in his sanctuary habitat. Inaki Malvido
The recent incident of a large specimen being run over on a highway in Antioquia prompted Governor Aníbal Gaviria Correa to demand a quick and concise response on the fate of hippos from Colombia’s environment minister. Susana Muhamad replied that the authorities are working to comply with the Cites Convention (international trade agreement for endangered species). He explained that the temporary sterilization measure was not quick enough to bring the population under control. However, relocation procedures have been delayed longer than expected and Muhamad apologizes when investigating the processes not to end up “exporting hippos without checking all the requirements”. Causes a problem elsewhere.
Ernesto Zazueta, a Sinaloan businessman with many years of experience arranging services for zoos in Mexico, offered to house 10 specimens in his shelter. In addition, he coordinated the placement of another 60 animals in an animal shelter in India. “We will bring the youngest we can find to bring down the birth rate in Colombia, which is very high,” explains the rescuer. He assures that they are already being baited to fall into traps to move them. The ultimate goal is to try to return them to their native habitat in Africa, as Zazueta has done with other species he has rescued from circuses, private collections, and other sanctuaries. However, the hippos first have to spend a longer stay in Ostok.
The transfer of animals is one of the containment strategies recommended by researchers from the National University of Colombia and the Alexander von Humboldt Institute and is being studied by the Colombian government. Another recommendation is to confine them in spaces with less freedom of movement to reduce mating season. The most drastic and controversial measure they propose is control hunting. It was attempted back in 2009 when the government hired two German hunters who, accompanied by the army, shot Pepe, the first hippopotamus of the herd. The group’s photo with the animal’s corpse as a trophy sparked rejection and was reminiscent of the photo of Escobar himself lying dead on a Medellín rooftop.
The guardian of the sanctuary watches as a machine works to build the pond where the ten hippos would live. Inaki Malvido
Zazueta tries to avoid animal deaths. “We want to save them because, as an invasive species, they can eradicate them and even give them hunting permits,” says the businessman. He is not concerned that taking a dozen specimens will lead to the same overpopulation problem in Mexico. “They left them lying around. Therefore, they multiply uncontrollably. These are animals that are classified as endangered, so there is no point in neutering them,” he stresses. The hippos that arrive in Culiacan will live in an enclosed area with a pool and attendants. However, they will not be sterilized or visited as Ostok is closed to the public to ensure stress-free and effective rehabilitation of the animals.
The herd will join Freddy, the only hippopotamus currently residing in the sanctuary. Zazueta looks proudly at the cub frolicking in a makeshift pond where the largest enclosure is being built. The new space will be integrated into the more than 100 hectare site, sheltered by a landscape of dry trees between hills. With the rains, the sun-drenched land turns into a green space with natural shade that offers shelter to residents. They now have rooms with shade and heat insulation.
Freddy the hippopotamus in the pond of his habitat in the Ostok Sanctuary. Inaki Malvido
A deer feeds on the peppers that the Shrine received through a donation that same afternoon.Iñaki Malvido
Lovebirds in their aviary, May 23, 2023. Iñaki Malvido
A tiger in its “quarantine” cage, a smaller space for individuals not yet ready to live with others in the newly established habitat.Iñaki Malvido
Zazueta has only been bringing animals here for two years, but that’s enough time to round up 450 specimens, from big cats like panthers and jaguars to tiny spider monkeys. Most are rescued from circuses, wildlife trade or private collections. They usually arrive wounded and in the bones. Others, like Freddy, are the result of doing favors for zoos they can’t have. “He and his father could have had a very ugly dispute over territory, so we better bring him here,” says the rescuer.
Before Ostok, Zazueta transported animals from one zoo to another and advised companies and institutions on wildlife management. With the change in law in Mexico in 2015 banning circuses involving animals, dozens of them were abandoned by their owners. At first, Zazueta was able to relocate some, but faced with the case of the Big Boy elephant, he found no other solution than to open his own animal shelter for his rehabilitation. This animal, accustomed to being immobile and having one leg constantly tied to a stick, became the emblem of the place, was already in better condition and every few minutes would ask its rescuer to give it prized coricos, some typical biscuits from the north. Other species were added later, such as the birds that were part of the confiscation of 16,000 animals at Iztapalapa.
The latest major achievement was rescuing 35 big cats from the Black Jaguar-White Tiger sanctuary, a place that went viral on social media and was visited by celebrities like Lewis Hamilton and Justin Bieber. Last year, the Federal Environmental Prosecutor’s Office (Profepa) closed the site following reports of cat malnutrition and abuse. The animals arrived in Ostok malnourished and some were mutilated. After 10 months of rehabilitation, they gained weight and even had children. They recently joined a specimen rescued in Michoacán, an adult tiger owned by criminals that was shot during a confrontation between armed groups.
Ernesto Zazueta, director of Ostok in the shelters near the city of Culiacán (Sinaloa state). Inaki Malvido
Zazueta explains that he has business partners who help fund the animal expenses with donations. When he took in all the tigers, Farmacias Similares helped him build an enclosure on the property. For the daily expenses, such as the kilos of meat that the cats need, he ensures that local companies such as Su Carne or Bachoco donate entire trucks as benefits in kind. Every few days, one of his employees drives a truck into the fields of Sinaloa in search of fruit and vegetables to donate. With these donations he covers half of the expenses, the other half comes from his own pocket. “I have several companies, for example a legal consultancy. In addition, I am President of the United Association for a Sustainable Management of Our Biodiversity and the Association of Zoos, Hatcheries and Aquariums of Mexico,” he adds.
Its partners in India will fund the two-plane transfer of the hippos they will receive, an operation that will total $3.5 million. The commercial flight to Sinaloa, worth almost half a million dollars, is financed by him, although there is still no concrete date for the long-awaited arrival. Zazueta blames the Colombian bureaucracy. “I’m desperate because I want it done now and I’m under pressure from India,” says the rescuer. Regarding the statements made by Minister Susana Muhamad, the businessman accused her of wanting to interfere in the process in Mexico. “She doesn’t rule here and she doesn’t have to interfere. That’s the problem. They are unaware of this and have the facility to voice inconsistencies,” he says. In the meantime, it will be Freddy who inaugurates the big pond while waiting for his future Colombian neighbors.
Diego García, director of the Culiacán Zoo and Ostok employee, closes the gate as he leaves the sanctuary grounds. Inaki Malvido
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