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In article <42ad4d02-c674-4522-be70-
dfa67a265b12n@googlegroups.com>
<
governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:
Send them to San Francisco!
Colombia plans to fly dozens of its “cocaine hippos” – the
descendents of drug trafficker Pablo Escobar’s private menagerie
– to new homes in India and Mexico in a bid to control their
booming population, according to the local governor.
There are now between 130 and 160 of the hippos, according to
the Colombian government, and they have spread out far beyond
Escobar’s former ranch of Hacienda Napoles, where they began as
a population of just one male and three females.
The original hippos were part of a collection of exotic animals
Escobar had amassed in the 1980s at his ranch about 250
kilometers (155 miles) from Medellín. After his death in 1993,
authorities relocated most of the other animals, but not the
hippos – because they were too difficult to transport.
But they have since begun to reproduce rapidly, extending their
reach along the Magdalena River basin, and they now pose an
environmental challenge and are concerning nearby residents,
authorities say.
A study in the journal Nature warned their numbers could balloon
to 1,500 within two decades.
Previously, authorities have tried to control their population
using castrations and “shots” of contraceptive darts. But the
contraceptive drives have had limited success.
Now there’s a plan to transfer 70 of the hippos to natural
sanctuaries in India and Mexico, the governor of Antioquia
province, where Hacienda Napoles is located, said in a Tweet.
Why India and Mexico?
A total of 70 hippos, a mix of males and females, are expected
to be moved – with 60 going to India and 10 to Mexico.
The technical term for this operation is “translocating,”
governor Aníbal Gaviria explained in an interview with the
Colombian outlet Blu Radio, as it would involve moving the
hippos from one country that was not their native habitat to
another that was also not their natural habitat.
The goal was “to take them to countries where these institutions
have the capacity to receive them, and to (home) them properly
and to control their reproduction,” Gaviria said.
Sending the hippos back to their native land of Africa was “not
allowed,” Gaviria said.
Sending the hippos back to Africa risked doing more harm than
good, for both the hippos themselves and the local ecosystem,
María Ángela Echeverry, professor of Biology at the Javeriana
University, previously explained to CNN.
“Every time we move animals or plants from one place to the
other, we also move their pathogens, their bacteria and their
viruses. And we could be bringing new diseases to Africa, not
just for the hippos that are out there in the wild, but new
diseases for the entire African ecosystem that hasn’t evolved
with that type of disease,” Echeverry said.
Aside from reducing the number of hippos in Colombia,
authorities are hoping to learn how to manage the remaining
population, which are recognized as a potential tourist
attraction.
The hippos will be flown in purpose-built boxes, Gaviria said in
the radio interview, and will not be sedated at first.
But “emergency sedation” is possible if one of the animals is
overcome by nerves during the flight, he added.
The translocation could be completed by the first half of this
year if necessary permits are expedited, especially from the
Colombian Agricultural Institute, Gaviria said.
Invasive species
Hippos are seen by some as an invasive species that can pose a
danger to local ecosystems and sometimes even to humans.
Research has highlighted the negative effects hippo waste can
have on oxygen levels in bodies of water, which can affect fish
and ultimately humans.
Nature magazine cited a 2019 paper that found lakes where hippos
were present had more cyanobacteria, which are associated with
toxic algae. These blooms can reduce water quality and cause
mass fish deaths, affecting local fishing communities.
Hippos can also pose a threat to agriculture and to people’s
safety, according to a Biological Conservation study published
in 2021. Hippos can eat or damage crops and engage in aggressive
interactions with humans.
“Hippos live in herds, they are quite aggressive. They are very
territorial and are plant eaters in general,” said Professor
Echeverry.
While the “cocaine hippos” are not native to Colombia, the local
terrain is thought to be favorable for their reproduction, since
it has shallow water sources and a large concentration of food.
Until now, Colombia has not been able to solve a problem that –
in the words of Gaviria to Blu Radio – “got out of control.”
Whether the latest efforts will succeed where birth control
efforts failed remains to be seen.
<
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/04/americas/colombia-cocaine-hippos- pablo-escobar-india-mexico-intl-hnk/index.html>
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