The great environmental problem generated by Pablo Escobar’s hippos in Colombia

Last week, Colombia recorded its first traffic incident involving a hippopotamus. A the car collided with the animal at high speed leaving him dead on the road.

The hippopotamus was a descendant of the four animals that the notorious drug trafficker Pablo Escobar imported from a zoo in the United States at his luxurious Hacienda Nápoles estate in Colombia in the 1980s . The four hippos, which included three females and one male, were abandoned after Escobar’s death in 1993 due to the difficulty associated with moving them to a wildlife sanctuary. The hippos escaped from the abandoned farm and spread all over the Magdalena River .

Since then, they have reproduced and multiplied at about 130 animals . But in the wild, hippos quickly become a problem. Hippopotamus attacks on people are ongoing increase and be an illegal trafficking industry has developed around their capture and sale.

environmentalists too warn that large herbivores such as hippos are disturbing Colombia’s delicate aquatic ecosystems. By excreting waste into lakes and rivers, hippos can change composition surrounding water. This water provides habitat for animals such as manatees And capybaras .

The hippos are now officially cataloged as an invasive species that must be controlled . But how best to manage them has long been a concern of the country’s environment ministry.

In 2009, the Colombian environmental agency ordered hunters kill three hippos amid fears they were damaging crops and endangering humans. A hippo, nicknamed Pepe, was killed as a result. Photos of dead hippo rotated viral and sparked a global protest .

The cull was quickly completed and the fate of the remaining hippos must now be decided by two ongoing court cases . I have analyzed both cases as part of my research and believe that they are evidence of good practice in the control of invasive species. This is because the interests of the animals are taken into account, a luxury which is not most animal species invasive.

has been proposed three strategies to control the hippo population in Colombia: euthanasia, relocation to zoos and animal shelters abroad and fertility control.

Euthanasia is the method cheaper and faster to control the hippo population in Colombia. However, this is a controversial strategy that would involve killing up to 30 hippos per year. . Those who oppose the strategy argue that it is clearly not in the interests of the hippos.

Instead, the reinstallation program involves moving 70 hippos to zoos and animal sanctuaries in India and Mexico that they are able to take care of themselves. But hippos are aggressive and very large, which makes them difficult to capture and transport. Consequently, many of those who remain will have their fertility checked.

He control program The fertility agency will use a drug called Zona Pellucida Porcina to reduce the fertility of female hippos. The same drug is used to control the birth rates of hippos in zoos. Such a strategy will reduce the number of wild hippos for longer periods of time and ultimately reduce the threat they pose to people and the environment.

Used together, fertility control and relocation strategies would help control the Columbian hippo population. And, although the animals are in captivity or unable to raise their offspring, plans are more humane than the alternative of being killed.

These are not perfect solutions. Controlling hippo fertility will not immediately reduce the wild population. As a result, you risk prolonging the threat of human-hippo conflict. It also does little to protect the environment in the short term.

The investigation also suggests that between 70% and 80% of wild female hippos in Colombia will need to be sterilized for the strategy to be effective. Spaying this number of hippos would eventually stabilize the population. But how long that would take has yet to be revealed.

Both strategies are costly. Relocating the hippos will cost approximately 3.5 million dollars and costs of fertility treatments $50,000 for each hippopotamus. Funds may be diverted from conservation efforts elsewhere in favor of the human fight against Colombia’s growing hippo population.

Invasive species tend to be perceived as threats that must be exterminated. Many countries allow the culling of invasive animals by any means necessary to control their population. Consequently, the policies carried out with the aim of controlling these animals often unethical .

The case of the Colombian hippopotamus shows that invasive animal species can be controlled and their interests taken into account at the same time. But it is important to recognize that compared to other invasive species, these hippos may have received preferential treatment. This is likely due to the high-profile nature of the case which, given his association with Pablo Escobar, has captured the public’s attention.

However, aspects of the Columbian hippo case could be applied more broadly to invasive species management . When euthanasia is the preferred option, the choice of methods that limit animal suffering must be preferred.

Gray squirrels, for example, are considered a nuisance species in el United Kingdom and can to be legally killed using methods such as poisoning and traps. But there are more humane alternatives, such as the use of oral contraceptives, which would also control their population.

There Colombia’s wild hippo population has become a problem. Inevitably, the species will need to be managed to prevent further harm to animals, to the environment in general, and to avoid conflict with humans.

The case of Pablo Escobar’s invasive hippos is unique. SHowever, it could be seen as a step in the right direction for invasive species management. Although the preferred management options are expensive and often fail to immediately stop the spread of animals, they avoid unnecessary killing and encourage more creative solutions.

*Senior Professor of Criminology, Nottingham Trent University.