There is a story that seems taken from a García Márquez novel but is completely real: in Colombia they live, free and in the middle of nature, more than 160 hippos. It’s not that evolution brought them to that corner of the world. In fact, they shouldn’t even be there, but they have been one of the largest for decades. environmental headaches of the country. The origin of everything is in the exotic whim of drug trafficker Pablo Escobar.
The sacrifice. What began as a millionaire’s extravagance has become a serious problem since it is an invasive species weighing 4,500 kilos and without local predators. Colombia has not found a solution for the new river “squatters” for years, but has decided take drastic measures against the uncontrolled growth of hippos thousands of kilometers from their place of origin: sacrifice half the population current hippopotamus.
However, just when the government was about to implement its plan, another millionaire has taken matters into his own hands and offered to take 80 of these animals to a sanctuary in India.
What is a hippopotamus doing in Colombia? In the 1980s, the leader of the Medellín cartel, Pablo Escobar, bought four hippos (one male and three females) from a US zoo to incorporate them into the private zoo that was being set up at Hacienda Nápoles, his immense estate in Colombia. After the drug kingpin’s death in 1993, no one knew what to do with them.
Moving animals that do not have a reputation for being very sociable and weighing up to 4,500 kilos each, was not a simple task. Given the apathy of the local authorities and the abandonment of the drug lord’s residence, the four animals escaped and entered in the Magdalena River basinwhere they found their new home in freedom. In fact, they acclimatized so well that today, almost 40 years after their arrival in Colombia, they still they coexist without control with endemic species that are not prepared for their presence.
A population that does not stop growing. The problem with having adapted so well to life in the wild is that what started with just four hippos has gotten out of control. Without natural predators, their reproduction has skyrocketed. According to a published study In the Magazine of the Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences in 2024, the population grows at a rate of between 8% and 9% annually.
Today it is estimated that there is a population of between 169 and 181 hippos distributed in up to seven groups in Colombia and is calculated that, without human intervention, by 2040 they could exceed 1,500 specimens if no measures are taken.
They have found paradise for hippos. Colombia offers hippos something that is scarce in Africa: stability in the levels of its river channels.
In the Magdalena River basin there is enough water even in times of drought, so the plump animals can do what they like most all year round: spend about 20 hours a day submerged. In addition, the river banks provide them with up to 35 kilos of grass daily. It is the closest to paradise this species has found. But it’s not his place.
An ecological problem of the first magnitude. What worries authorities and conservationists the most is not only the growing number of hippos in the waters of the Magdalena, but the impact that this invasive species is generating in that ecosystem and in the native species.
Colombia is home to practically 10% of the planet’s biodiversity and, according to a study from the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) published in the scientific journal Ecologyhippos are endangering the survival of manatees, otters, capybaras and fish endemic to the Magdalena.
Given the weight, volume and appetite of these animals, the structure of the land is being altered and their feces in the water trigger a eutrophication process which favors the proliferation of algae harmful to river fauna. Colombia declared them officially invasive species in 2022, with all the attempts to control its population through chemical sterilization and castration.
Desperate not to find a solution to the largest invasive species on the planet, in April 2026, the government announced that it would include the sacrifice of specimens among its measures, generating an intense international ethical debate.
Anant Ambani’s offer. That’s where Anant Ambani, son of Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in Asia, also known for celebrate a wedding in 2024 which cost around 600 million dollars.
Ambani is also an activist for animal protection and founded Vantaraa sanctuary in Gujarat (India) that houses hundreds of rescued species from around the world. Upon hearing the news of the fatal fate of those known as “cocaine hippos“has contacted the Colombian authorities to offer asylum in Vantara to 80 of the hippos destined for sacrifice.
The Colombian government has not yet made an official statement, but it is not expected to reject the millionaire’s offer in order to resolve part of its problem with Pablo Escobar’s “pets.”
Image | Unsplash (Sachin Mittal), Wikimedia Commons (National Registry of Colombia)
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