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Topics: Animals, World News, News, Environment
Greg Harris
Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ may have been given another a chance at life thanks to an unlikely source.
The Colombian drug lord, who was the founder and leader of the Medellín Cartel, was one of the wealthiest criminals in history before his death from a gunshot wound at the age of 44 in 1993.
Escobar illegally brought four hippos to one of his estates in the 1980s but after his capture and death, the mammals escaped and began reproducing in the wild.
The animals soon became a highly threatening invasive predator to native species and also posed a danger to local villagers.
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Earlier this month, animal activists raised the alarm that it had been decided that the animals would be euthanised.
This came after two years of failed attempts at relocation and sterilisation. The government said it planned to cull 80 of the at least 169 hippos.
Environment minister Irene Vélez explained at a press conference that other methods to control the hippo population had been explored but proved to be expensive and unsuccessful. “If we don’t do this, we will not be able to control the population. We have to take this action to preserve our ecosystems.”
Vélez cited estimates that the population could reach at least 500 individuals by 2030, which could 'affect our ecosystems and native species'.
However, Indian billionaire Anant Ambani has now stepped in, pledging to rescue 80 of the hippos.
Ambani, the son of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has offered to take the hippos to his wildlife sanctuary in India.
He asked the Colombian government to reconsider the decision to cull 80 of the hippos, proposing the house them at his rescue centre.
“These 80 hippos did not choose where to be born, nor did they create the circumstances they now face,” he explained in a social media post. He added that the hippos ‘are living, sentient beings, and if we have the capacity to save them through a safe and humane solution, we have the responsibility to try.’
Ambani founded the conservation centre Vantara in the city of Jamnagar, in the state of Gujarat. It is home to more than 150,000 animals from over 2,000 wildlife species, according to its website.
This could be the new home of the 80 Colombian hippos, which currently reside around Hacienda Nápoles, a rural estate located in Puerto Triunfo.
“We are willing to receive and care for these hippos in a specially designed and enriched environment, conceived to guarantee their well-being and, at the same time, reflect the key characteristics of their current habitat,” a statement published Monday signed by Vantara’s CEO, Vivaan Karani, on behalf of Ambani, reads.
If the Colombian government approves Ambani’s request, moving the hippos to India would be carried out ‘in strict accordance with the necessary approvals, permits, due diligence processes, biosecurity requirements, and logistical planning,” Karani said in the statement. The animals would be offered a ‘lifetime’ of care under the principle of ‘causing no harm to any living being’.
Tyla has contacted Colombia’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development for comment.