How Pablo Escobar Gave Colombia a Hippo Problem

You may be surprised to learn, that the South American country of Colombia, has a hippopotamus problem. This article will discuss how it happened, the problems it’s causing, and why there isn’t a good solution to the situation. It all started in the early 1980’s, when the infamous drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27905743" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">smuggled four hippos</a> into the country for his personal zoo. He also brought in elephants, antelopes, giraffes, rhinoceroses, ostriches, and zebras. After Escobars’ death in 1993, authorities seized his large estate outside of Medellin, in Northern Colombia. They rounded up most of the animals and gave them to zoos, but decided to leave the hippos alone, since they were so large and difficult to handle. Therefore the four hippos, one male and three females, remained on the property, which had a small lake for them to enjoy. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kionasmith/2020/01/30/pablo-escobars-hippos-have-a-big-impact-on-colombian-lakes/?sh=1e33ad46b456" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">By 2007, the original four had turned into 16 hippos</a>, and some of them had broken through the fences and wondered off the property. <a href="https://medium.com/@explorationatlas/how-pablo-escobar-gave-colombia-a-hippo-problem-d253fdfbc88e">Click Here</a>