Colombia: There are too many hippos, who wants to take them?
Hippos are native to Africa, and in the 80s of the 20th century, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar established a private zoo in which four hippos (one male and three females, they and their descendants are also nicknamed "cocaine hippos"). Today, there are between 130 and 160 hippos here, and their habitat extends far beyond the original zoo and has begun to expand along the Magdalena River basin. These hippos also have a devastating impact on the local ecology. A study in Nature warns that the Colombian hippopotamus population could swell to 1,500 within 20 years. Previously, authorities had also tried to control their numbers by castrating and "injecting" contraceptive darts. It is clear that the success rate of contraception is extremely limited. Recently, the governor of Antioquia announced that they plan to transfer 70 hippos to nature reserves in India and Mexico. And said that the technical term for this action is "translocation" because it involves the transfer of hippos from one country that is not native to another. But returning hippos to their native Africa is "not allowed", and these Colombian-grown hippos could bring pathogens, bacteria and viruses back to African territory where they cannot effectively control their outbreaks. If it is really "those who have good deeds, the ship will enter .."
