"The Hunt for Escobar's Hippos" is a new special that was featured on the Smithsonian Channel on August 26. The documentary features a Columbian veterinarian, Dr. Gina Serna, who goes on a journey to find the hippos from Pablo Escobar's illegal zoo.
Dr. Serna was tasked to capture and sterilize the dangerous creatures. She is joined by big game capture expert and wildlife relocation specialist Chris Hobkirk from South Africa.
Before the drug lord's death in 1993, Pablo Escobar was notorious for running one of the largest drug cartels in the United States but monopolizing the cocaine trade. However, drugs were not the only thing Escobar illegally moved between borders.
During the 1970s, he acquired a large, 8-square mile estate in Colombia, the Hacienda Napoles, where he developed his personal theme park and zoo, which Escobar left open to the public. He had illegally imported various types of animals from all over the world, including exotic birds, elephants, and hippopotamuses, which are native to Africa.
Hippo Population
After authorities shot Escobar, most of his zoo animals were captured and sent off to zoos, all except his four hippos. With the hippos left behind, they began to breed and had reached over 80 hippos today. With no authorities to control the hippo population, the invasive species roam freely and disturb nearby villages.
In 2007, locals from Antioquia called the Ministry of Environment to report a creature they have never encountered before. Carlos Valderrama from the charity Webonserva said that the fishermen "found a creature in a river that they had never seen before, with small ears and a really big mouth." All the hippos they encountered were traced back to Hacienda Napoles.
Experts believe that the Colombian hippo population needs to be controlled, yet it is illegal to cull them in Colombia, where the people have grown to love them. Some have even captured younger hippos and kept them as pets.
However, adult hippos are an aggressive species. Valderrama said, "They are not a tame animal. The risk for local populations to just leave them to browse around will be huge."
CHECK THIS OUT: Watch A Man Casually Brushes the Teeth of the Deadliest Large Land Mammal on Earth
Disrupting the Ecosystem
The hippos are also disrupting the ecosystem by moving nutrients from the land and into the water, unlike previous grazing animals that did the opposite. Their massive amounts of poop are also a problem, which would have been beneficial if they had been in Africa's dry climate where nutrients moving into water is an advantage.
In Colombia, where the climate is much more tropical, the hippo's large amounts of poop are changing the biology of the Magdalena river and other bodies of water. Scientists have found high levels of cyanobacteria in the waters, which could lead to algal blooms.
Excessive amounts of algae release toxins in the water, which can affect other marine creatures. Fishers may capture fish that contain these toxins and bring them into markets.
READ: Zoos Forced Shut Down Due to Pandemic May Have to Euthanize Animals
Check out more news and information on Animals on Science Times.
