The Colombian government is preparing to spend millions of dollars removing a herd of hippos brought into the country by notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.
The late cocaine baron illegally imported four hippopotamuses from Africa to Colombia in the 1980s.
After Escobar was fatally shot by Colombian police officers in 1993, his ranch was abandoned and the animals were left to roam free—and their numbers have swelled since, with the hippos reproducing in nearby rivers and spreading from the drug lord’s Hacienda Nápoles estate to Puerto Triunfo, a local town.
There are now 130 hippos in the area, according to reports, with projections showing there could be 1,400 in around a decade as there are no natural predators nearby to control the population.
Last year, the Colombian government declared the hippos descended from Escobar’s original herd an invasive species, with their presence damaging the ecosystem and said to be posing a risk to human health.
In an attempt to keep the animals’ numbers from rising exponentially, local authorities have spent thousands of dollars sterilizing them, but the hippos are breeding faster than experts are able to find and castrate them.
Talk of transferring at least 70 hippos to wildlife sanctuaries in Mexico and India began earlier this month, despite the animals providing a lucrative income for the local community who charge tourists to see them.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Mexico’s Ostok wildlife sanctuary said it had people on the ground in Colombia who would soon begin searching for the hippos by helicopter to assist with the relocation efforts.
“The whole operation should cost around $3.5 million,” Ernesto Zazueta, the sanctuary’s owner, told reporters.
The BBC reported that 60 of the hippos, which weigh up to three tons, would be shipped to India, while 10 would be sent to Mexico.
