In recent days, a strategy of surgical sterilization of hippos has been launched in Colombia with the aim of controlling the growing population of these animals, descendants of those that were part of Pablo Escobar’s private zoo at Hacienda Nápoles.
According to the Regional Autonomous Corporation of the Black and Nare River Basins (Cornare), in the last month two females and one male underwent surgical sterilization processes, marking the beginning of an ambitious plan that seeks to sterilize forty hippos each year. .
This measure, announced in November by the Ministry of the Environment on November 2, 2023, also contemplates options such as the possible transfer of specimens to countries such as India, Mexico and the Philippines, as well as euthanasia, although they recognize that the option of killing The invasive species still does not have the protocols to be carried out.
However, the surgical sterilization process appears to be one of the most complex that health authorities face, as it involves risks for both medical personnel and the animals themselves. According to David Echeverry López, head of Cornare’s biodiversity management office, capturing hippos, which turn out to be a territorial species and weighing up to three tons, has been a far from easy challenge due to weather conditions and oversupply. of food in the area. With Infobae
