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Moscow Zoo and the international organization GOZA have launched a global campaign to save about 80 hippos in Colombia, descendants of animals that once belonged to drug lord Pablo Escobar. Colombian authorities plan to eliminate them due to uncontrolled population growth.
The General Director of the Moscow Zoo, Svetlana Akulova, has announced the launch of an international operation to save Pablo Escobar's famous hippos in Colombia, which are at risk of being exterminated by local authorities.
According to Akulova, the international environmental organization GOZA has sent an official appeal to the Colombian government to stop the mass euthanasia plan and choose a humane alternative.
" As a global environmental organization, we are obliged to do everything possible to provide a humane alternative ," Akulova stated in a post on the Moscow Zoo's official Telegram channel.
The hippos are descendants of four animals that Pablo Escobar illegally imported in the 1980s for the private zoo at his luxury estate, Hacienda Nápoles. After Escobar's death in 1993, the animals were left free and bred uncontrollably in the rivers and tropical areas of Colombia.
Today, their population has reached around 80 individuals and is considered a serious threat to the local ecosystem, as hippos are not a native species in Latin America.
In April, Reuters reported that the Colombian government had decided to cull a large number of hippos to curb their population, arguing that the animals were damaging biodiversity and posing a threat to local communities.
However, the GOZA organization and international partners oppose this plan and propose transferring the hippos to specialized centers in other countries.
According to the plan, the main partner of the operation will be the Indian animal rescue center "Vantara Wildlife Rescue Center" in Jamnagar, which has expressed its willingness to create a special habitat for hippos.
"Hippopotas should not die just because they are in the wrong place," Akulova declared, adding that such operations require the pooling of the best international resources.
According to her, organizations and specialists from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America have confirmed their willingness to participate in the project.
Experts are currently working on a plan to distribute the animals to various zoological centers and nature reserves, with the aim of avoiding genetic problems that have begun to appear in the Colombian population due to reproduction within a limited group.
GOZA has announced that it intends to take on the role of coordinator in negotiations with the Colombian Ministry of the Environment and oversee the implementation of international standards for the transport and accommodation of animals.
Escobar's hippos have become a unique and controversial phenomenon in Colombia for years. For some locals they represent a tourist attraction, while for environmental experts they are an invasive species that could cause serious ecological damage if the population continues to grow.
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