Colombia plans to ship 70 ‘cocaine hippos’ to India and Mexico

On Saturday, March 4, reviews emerged that the Colombia authorities is planning to fly as many as 60 of its ‘cocaine hippos’ to India and 10 others to Mexico in a bid to regulate their booming inhabitants within the South American nation. Several media reviews have quoted the native governor as confirming the proposal. These hippos are the descendants of the hippos stored on the personal zoo of drug lord Pablo Escobar.

Pablo Escobar’s “cocaine hippos” to succeed in India from Colombia. Here is why#cocainehippos #hippos #ZeeOriginals pic.twitter.com/5aRcCJ9d4D

— Zee News English (@ZeeNewsEnglish) March 4, 2023

Colombia is contemplating relocating these gigantic animals as they really feel it poses a menace to the area’s biodiversity as their numbers are growing and the faeces of those animals change the composition of the rivers and will affect the habitat of manatees and capybaras. They don’t have any pure predators, making it troublesome to regulate their rising inhabitants. Moreover, consultants have additionally cautioned the nation in regards to the possibilities of lethal animal-human encounters.

In an interview with Colombian media home Blu Radio, Antioquia province’s governor Aníbal Gaviria mentioned that they’re contemplating to translocate the hippopotamuses to India and Mexico as a result of these two nations have the capability to obtain them, handle them correctly and management their replica. He mentioned that sending the hippos again to their native place Africa is just not doable as a result of “it is not allowed”.

According to CNN, authorities have used castration and pictures of contraceptive darts to attempt to handle the inhabitants. The efforts, nonetheless, haven’t been particularly fruitful.

According to Lina Marcela de los Ríos Morales, director of animal safety and welfare at Antioquia’s setting ministry, the proposal to move them to India and Mexico has been within the pipeline for greater than a 12 months.

The thought is to lure the hippos into custom-made containers utilizing meals and switch them by vehicles to town of Rionegro, from the place they’ll then be transported by air to Mexico and India. If the plan materialises, 60 of the “cocaine hippos” will probably be flown to India and housed at Gujarat’s Greens Zoological Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom. The relaxation will probably be despatched to Ostok Sanctuary in Mexico.

Ernesto Zazueta, president of the Ostok Sanctuary, can be appearing as a liaison between Colombia and India. He mentioned that they’ll constitution cargo planes, able to carrying 20 to 30 hippos, from Belarusian firm Rada Airlines. A visit to Mexico will value $400,000, whereas the price of a visit to India will probably be $900,000. He added that sources for this translocation will go from India and Mexico. The total course of will probably be documented by an Argentine documentary producer.

He clarified that they’re doing this for the well-being of the animals, not due to their historic affiliation with Pablo Escobar.

Lina de los Ríos Morales, director of animal safety and welfare in a regional department of Colombia’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, confirmed that they’re working with Ernesto Zazueta for the venture.  Lina de los Ríos Morales added that the plan is within the works for greater than a 12 months, however the strategy of acquiring essential permits is pending.

According to the governor’s workplace, Antioquia, Ecuador, the Philippines, and Botswana have additionally expressed willingness to convey house the Colombian cocaine hippos.

What are ‘cocaine hippos’

Notably, the ‘cocaine hippos’ are descendants of 4 hippos, one male and three females, that deceased Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar stored on the personal zoo on his property in Hacienda Nápoles. He had smuggled these 4 hippos from Africa or the United States, illegally within the Nineteen Eighties, to go along with his assortment of different unique animals in his personal zoo.

The personal zoo within the Hacienda Nápoles had numerous animals like giraffes, elephants, antelope, unique birds and many others, aside from the hippos. The property of the drug lord additionally had a non-public airport, a brother, a formula-1 racing monitor, and a big assortment of automobiles.

The authorities had taken management of the property after he was shot and killed by police in 1993. After that, many of the animals residing in Escobar’s ranch have been relocated by authorities. However, the hippos have been permitted to roam freely on the drug lord’s property as a result of it was too troublesome to move them as every weigh as much as three tonnes (3000 kg). The hippos began residing within the Magdalena River and a few small lakes within the space.

The hippos thrived on the deserted property, the place they managed to outlive as a result of beneficial weather conditions and the absence of pure predators. Soon they began multiplying. From the preliminary 4 hippos, their inhabitants began rising steadily and unfold means past the Hacienda Napoles ranch. At current, there are 130-140 hippos within the area, and with out inhabitants management measures, their numbers may go as much as 400 within the coming years. In the subsequent 16 years, the numbers may swell to 1500, if not managed.

Image supply: Twitter consumer @foreignobjecter

Last 12 months, Colombia’s authorities declared them a poisonous invasive species. 

At current, the Colombian authorities plan to shift the hippos residing within the rivers and lakes exterior the ranch, not those contained in the Hacienda Napoles ranch, as a result of they’re in a managed setting and don’t threaten the native ecosystem.

It is being mentioned that translocating the hippos is a extra humane method then castrating or killing them. During the 2000s, the federal government had allowed searching of the animals. But when pictures of a hippo shot useless by troopers appeared on media, it created an enormous outrage, and the govt. stopped the transfer.

Namibia Cheetahs to be delivered to India from South Africa

India lately acquired cheetahs from Namibia, as a part of a reintroduction venture. Cheetahs have been declared extinct in India in 1952. On sixteenth February 2023, Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change introduced the relocation of twelve Cheetahs from South Africa to India. The cheetahs have been delivered to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park on February 18, 2023. This was the second batch of cheetahs delivered to India, after 8 cheetahs introduced from Namibia by India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in a historic first wild-to-wild intercontinental relocation, have been launched in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh on 17 September 2022.

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