“If we don’t do this we will not be able to control the population,” Vélez said. “We have to take this action to preserve our ecosystems.”
Colombia is the only country outside of Africa with a wild hippo population. The hippos are the descendants of four brought to the country in the 1980s by Escobar as he built a private zoo in Hacienda Nápoles, a gigantic ranch in the Magdalena River valley with a private landing strip that served as his rural abode.
A study published by Colombia’s National University estimated that around 170 hippos were roaming freely in the country in 2022.
Recently, hippos have been spotted in areas that are more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the ranch.
Environmental authorities in Colombia say the mammals pose a threat to villagers who have encountered them in farms and rivers. They also compete for food and space against local species such as river manatees.
Despite the challenges, the hippos have also become a tourist attraction, with residents of villages surrounding Hacienda Nápoles offering hippo spotting tours and selling hippo-themed souvenirs.
Animal welfare activists in Colombia have long opposed proposals to kill the hippos, arguing they deserve to live. They say that addressing the problem through violence sets a poor example for a country that has gone through decades of internal conflict.
Andrea Padilla, a senator and animal rights activist who helped draft a law against bullfights in Colombia, described the plan to cull the hippos as a “cruel” decision, and accused government officials of trying to take the easy way out.
Over the past 12 years, spanning three presidential administrations, Colombia has tried to neuter some of the hippos in a bid to reduce their population. But the initiatives have had limited scope due to high costs that come with capturing the dangerous animals and performing surgeries on them.
Because Colombia’s hippos come from a limited gene pool and could carry diseases, taking them back to their natural habitat in Africa has been considered unfeasible.
