Colombia approves plan to euthanize up to 80 of Escobar’s hippos amid ecological risk
Colombia has approved a plan to euthanize dozens of invasive hippos descended from animals once owned by drug lord Pablo Escobar, citing mounting ecological and public safety risks decades after the species was introduced. Environment Minister Irene Vélez said authorities will cull up to 80 animals from a population that has spread through river systems in the Magdalena basin.
Officials estimate there are about 170 hippos in Colombia today and warn the number could climb to as many as 500 by the end of the decade without decisive action. “If we don’t do this, we will not be able to control the population,” Vélez said, describing the measure as necessary to protect biodiversity and limit further harm to native species.
The so‑called “cocaine hippos” trace back to the 1980s, when Escobar imported four animals to his Hacienda Nápoles estate. After his death in 1993, the hippos escaped captivity and began reproducing in the wild. With no natural predators in Colombia, they spread beyond the original ranch into rivers and wetlands.
Scientists say the animals have an outsized impact on fragile waterways. Their size and feeding habits erode riverbanks and strip vegetation, while their waste alters water chemistry by reducing oxygen and increasing nutrient loads. Those changes can kill fish and aquatic plants and threaten species such as manatees, otters and turtles that rely on stable ecosystems.
Encounters with people have increased as the herd has grown. Authorities report incidents of damaged crops, traffic accidents and attacks on boats or people, stoking concern in rural communities. Successive governments have pursued nonlethal options for more than a decade, including sterilization and relocation, but both have proven costly and difficult.
Sterilizing a single hippo requires heavy equipment and poses significant risks to personnel, and relocation efforts have stalled because no other country has agreed to accept the animals. A 2023 study estimated that even a limited sterilization and relocation program could cost between $1 million and $2 million and still leave hippos in Colombia for decades.
Exporting the animals abroad could cost even more, with some estimates reaching $3.5 million. Faced with those constraints, the government has allocated roughly $2 million for a program that combines chemical and physical euthanasia with continued sterilization of some animals and monitoring to identify those posing the greatest risk.
Even some experts who favor nonlethal approaches acknowledge the bind. “The ideal scenario would be that no animals die,” said environmental law professor Luis Domingo Gómez Maldonado. “But the reality is that, at this point, there is no other option.” Animal-rights activists and some politicians have condemned the plan, arguing the hippos—brought to Colombia through human actions—should not be killed.
Sen. Andrea Padilla called the decision “cruel,” saying it reflects a failure to pursue more humane solutions. While the hippos have become a tourist draw in some areas, providing local economic benefits, scientists warn their unchecked growth could inflict irreversible environmental damage.
Authorities say they will focus on animals that pose the greatest ecological and safety risks as they implement the plan, while continuing to track the population. The debate over how to manage the hippos underscores a broader tension between conservation priorities and animal welfare that is unlikely to fade soon.