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Hippos descended from Pablo Escobar’s pets being sterilised by Colombian government | World News<\/p>\n
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Colombia has started sterilising hippos descended from animals illegally brought to the country by drug lord\u00a0Pablo Escobar in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
The hippos spread from Escobar’s estate into nearby rivers, where they flourished.<\/p>\n
There are now more than 100 of them, prompting the government’s plan to control the population.<\/p>\n
Two male hippos and one female have been surgically sterilised, environmental authorities said.<\/p>\n
The government plans to sterilise 40 hippos a year, transfer others to different countries, and may euthanise some of the animals.<\/p>\n
The hippos have no natural predators in Colombia and have been declared an invasive species that could upset the ecosystem.<\/p>\n
Sterilisation takes time, because spotting and capturing the territorial, aggressive 3-ton animals is complicated, David Echeverry Lopez, chief of the environment office in charge of the plan, said.<\/p>\n
The amount of rain has made things even more difficult.<\/p>\n
More grass means “they have an oversupply of food, so baiting them to capture them becomes even more complicated,” he said.<\/p>\n
Read more from Sky News: A group of hippos was brought in the 1980s to Escobar’s private zoo, Hacienda Napoles, which became a tourist attraction after his death in 1993.<\/p>\n Most of the animals live freely in rivers and reproduce without control. The government estimates there are 169 hippos in Colombia – and that if no measures are taken, there could be 1,000 by 2035.<\/p>\n When the plan was first announced, the environment ministry said each sterilisation costs about $9,800, and involves risks for the hippopotamus, including allergic reactions to anesthesia or death – along with dangers for the animal health personnel involved.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0635\u062f\u0631<\/a>
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