An estimated 80 hippopotamuses live in the area around the Rio Magdalena, Colombia's principal river. They're descendants of four hippos that were brought to the country by Pablo Escobar. Now, the rapid growth of their numbers has authorities worried
Since that night in 2018, the hippos have kept coming - wandering down the back streets of rural Doradal, a small Colombian town a four-hour drive from Medellin. Occasionally a hippopotamus will appear on the local soccer pitch to graze.
Students at a small primary school behind Escobar's former estate arrive for class each day by passing a sign that reads "danger - hippopotamus present"."It worries us," said Wilber Quinones who teaches at the school. "We have to lock ourselves inside with the children to try and avoid an accident." Hippo key rings are displayed for sale at a souvenir shop near the Napoles Park in Puerto Triunfo, Colombia.The hippos are also having an impact on the native flora and fauna with indications the presence of the animals is displacing some local species.
Cornare, the environmental agency that is responsible for the region where the hippos are currently located, has been tasked with finding a solution that residents are comfortable with but that also deals with the animals in a humane way. Now a plan has been hatched to sterilise the animals. Serna and a group from Cornare last year conducted an in-the-wild surgical sterilisation of a female, the first ever in Colombia.
But they acknowledge that won't be enough to contain a hippopotamus population that is estimated to quadruple over the next 10 years and could eventually reach into the thousands. For now, it's as much as they can afford.In the meantime, the locals are learning to live with their new neighbours.
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