The hippos are also responsible for "changing ecosystems" and attacks on local fishermen.Įscobar became one of the richest men on the planet, according to Forbes, thanks to the drug trafficking empire he built.Īlmost 30 years since his death, Colombia remains the largest producer of cocaine in the world, much of it smuggled to the United States. In a historic court ruling, the hippos have been granted 'legal. "The presence of these animals in an ecosystem that is not their own, brings consequences such as the displacement of local fauna," said David Echeverri, a Cornare expert quoted in the bulletin. Pablo Escobars cocaine hippos have significantly reproduced and now there are about 120 hippos roaming freely around Colombia. Pablo Escobar is a name Colombia has been trying to forget for the last 30 years. "However, it's complicated because experts suggest giving three doses."Īnother 11 hippos were previously sterilized by more traditional means.Įxperts believe this to be the largest herd of hippopotamuses outside of Africa and it has led to problems. The cocaine hippos are descendants of animals that Escobar illegally imported to his Colombian ranch in the 1980s when he reigned over the country’s drug trade. The hippos brought by Pablo Escobar to his private zoo have multiplied and invaded Colombias waterways. "It's a contraceptive that is effective in males and females" and cheaper than surgical sterilization, said Cornare. At the time of his death in 1993 Escobar was worth an estimated 30 billion and he was not one to conceal his immense wealth. The hippos were shot with darts to inject them with a medicine called GonaCon, according to a bulletin by Cornare, a regional environmental protection organization in the northwest of Colombia. To say that Colombian cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar was prone to excess would be putting it mildly. They were left to roam on his Hacienda Napoles estate, which has since been converted into a theme park, as they were considered to large to try to move, but since then their numbers have multiplied. Alongside a private airport, kart-racing track and a bull-fighting ring, Escobar built a private zoo that housed animals including elephants, giraffes and hippos. Twenty-four out of 80 hippopotamuses roaming on the former ranch of the late Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar were sterilised due to the "uncontrolled" spreading of this "invasive" species, authorities said on Friday.īefore he was shot dead by police in 1993, the notorious Escobar had purchased a number of exotic animals to live on his ranch, including flamingos, giraffes, zebras and kangaroos.Īfter his death, all but the hippopotamuses were sold to zoos.Įscobar originally acquired a single male and female hippos. The offspring of hippos once owned by Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar can be recognized as people or 'interested persons' with legal rights in the U.S. A hippo is seen at the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch in Colombia on June 22, 2016.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |