Pablo Escobar brought four hippos to Colombia. There could be over a thousand in 2035
Pablo Escobar was the head of the Colombian cocaine mafia, and one of the richest and most wanted criminals in the world. Escobar gained a bad reputation as a ruthless terrorist – he ordered bombings even of schools and shopping malls. On his orders, about ten thousand people were killed, and this number may be even higher. He eluded law enforcement hundreds of times, because almost all Colombians helped him hide – some out of fear, others out of admiration. The criminal could also be magnanimous – he built football stadiums, housing estates and often gave away money.
Pablo Escobar, who died in a police raid on the roof of the house that had been his hideout in Medellin for the last few weeks of his life, on December 2, 1993, had been collecting exotic animals on his estate for years. They included giraffes, tigers, antelopes, and hippos. Although Escobar imported only four hippos from Africa, the animals multiplied in the wild after the criminal’s death. According to government forecasts, by 2035 there could be over a thousand of them.
The hippos in question – as an invasive species – are displacing native species in Colombia. Another problem is that these animals are very large and their behavior is territorial.
