Cocaine Hippos: Colombia will send 60 hippos to India, drug smuggler Pablo Escobar has a close relationship

Bogota, India is soon going to get 60 hippopotamus from Colombia. According to a CNN report, Colombia is planning to send 70 of its cocaine hippos to India and Mexico. Out of a total of 70 hippos, 60 will be sent to India, while 10 will be sent to Mexico. There are currently between 130-160 hippos in Colombia, which were brought by Pablo Escobar. These cocaine hippos are the descendants of four hippos, one male and three females, that were reportedly brought from Africa or the United States in the 1970s.

According to the Washington Post, when Escobar surrendered to authorities in 1991, the government let the animals brought by Pablo to roam free. Released hippos breed in local rivers and in favorable climatic conditions. Hippopotamuses, which weigh up to 3 tons, have spread as far as the Hacienda Napoles Ranch, 200 kilometers (124 mi) from Bogotá along the banks of the Magdalena River.

Environmental officials have also estimated that there are about 130 hippos in the territory of Antioquia province and that their population could reach 400 in eight years. Scientists have warned that the hippo has no natural predators in Colombia and is a potential problem for biodiversity. Last year, the Colombian government declared them a toxic invasive species. They are said to pose a threat to the local ecosystem and sometimes to humans as well. Previously, as reported by CNN, officials also tried to control their population using castration and contraceptive shots darts, but with limited success.

Lina Marcela de los Rios Morales, director of animal protection and welfare at Antioquia’s environment ministry, told The Associated Press that plans to move them to India and Mexico have been in the making for more than a year. There is a plan to send 60 hippos to the Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Kingdom located in the Indian state of Gujarat. The other 10 hippos will go to zoos and sanctuaries in Mexico, such as Ostoc in Sinaloa.

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Tags: India, Mexico, Wildlife