Colombian government has sterilized Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ over environmental concerns

The Colombian government is putting an end to Pablo Escobar's ‘cocaine hippos.’

The drug lord’s exotic creatures have resided in his Hacienda Nápoles estate since his death in 1993. Escobar initially smuggled four hippos—one male and three female—from a United States zoo back in the 1980s, but they have since bred and multiplied. Estimates say there are now more than 80 hippos.

While the hippos don’t actually contain cocaine and are instead a reference to the kingpin’s notorious association with the Medellín drug cartel, the animals are said to be causing havoc on the environment.

According to experts, the hippos have become a big threat to locals and are destroying river banks with their toxic poop and urine. The feces is apparently causing toxic algae to grow within the local rivers which is poisoning the water supply and reducing oxygen for native fish.

The large creatures are also said to be increasingly aggressive with some having even attacked humans.

Escobar’s hippos have long been a tourist attraction that many fly from all over the world to visit. And while tourism has certainly proved to benefit the government money-wise, it’s long been a concern that without proper intervention the hippo population would grow to be more than 1,400 by 2039.

Well, authorities aren’t letting that happen. They’ve already begun making moves to put an end to the drug lord’s beasts. As of now, the Colombian government has already sterilized two dozen hippos.

The 24 hippos have been given a chemical that makes them infertile in the hopes that it will slow down reproduction until a permanent solution is found.

Due to their weight, getting rid of the 4,000-pound animals has been a tricky situation.

David Echeverri, a biologist leading an operation to capture and kill the wild hippos told France 24 that, “everything to do with hippos is complex, costly, demoralizing, and of course, very dangerous.”

The scientist added, “We cannot kill them all nor can we capture them all.” Because of the immense trouble they are having controlling the hippos, Echeverri is urging any zoo or institution in the market for a hippo to reach out.

“For the hippos, you don’t have to pay anything,” he said, “You just have to take care of the logistics to transport them—and get us rid of them.”