Colombians are divided over the fate of hippos linked to Pablo Escobar
[April 29, 2026]
By ASTRID SUÁREZ
PUERTO TRIUNFO, Colombia (AP) — Along the Magdalena River, one of
Colombia’s primary arteries, fishermen move with wary precision. From
the silty, tea-colored current, hippopotamuses can surface without
warning, closing the distance to a vessel in a single heartbeat.
“These hippos are a true nightmare,” said fisherman Wilinton Sánchez
about the semi-aquatic animals capable of charging at speeds of up to 8
kilometers (5 miles) per hour in water and 30 kilometers (18 miles) on
land. “We were out Saturday when one lunged … reared up and swung its
jaws wide. If it ever gets hold of you, it’ll tear you to pieces.”
The animals also draw fascination.
Several afternoons a week, boats filled with Colombian and foreign
tourists arrive to scan the shoreline waiting for signs in the murky
water. Even these “hippo-watching” outings can occasionally end in
screams as the animals close the distance with terrifying speed, but
they also bring needed business to the community.
The hippos, an invasive species in Colombia, are part of a population of
200 that continues to reproduce unchecked. They are the offspring of
animals illegally brought to the country in the 1980s by the late drug
kingpin Pablo Escobar for his private zoo at Hacienda Nápoles — a
sprawling valley estate that featured a private airstrip and served as
his secluded fortress.
‘They are Colombian’
Colombia’s Environment Ministry has warned that the country’s hippo
population will exceed 500 by 2030 without intervention. To prevent
this, officials recently approved a plan to euthanize approximately 80
hippos starting in the latter half the year.
The measure has ignited a fierce debate. Scientists advocating for
euthanasia have faced death threats, while animal welfare activists
decry the plan as “murder.” Meanwhile, many residents of Puerto Triunfo,
a town 200 kilometers (120 miles) of the capital, Bogota, fear that
losing the animals will destroy the tourism that sustains their
community.
Diana Hincapié pauses her work at a Puerto Triunfo restaurant, taking a
seat to chat beside a mural of a female hippopotamus and her calf.
“We don’t want to see a dead hippopotamus. They aren’t African anymore;
they are Colombian, born and bred here for over 30 years,” said the
48-year-old business owner, noting she is ready to take to the streets
in protest if the euthanasia plan proceeds.
Her restaurant, situated on the banks of the Cocorná Sur River — a
tributary of the Magdalena — draws nearly 200 tourists a month. Most
come specifically for the hippos, and Hincapié fears that the
government’s plan would decimate the area's tourism.
Confinement, transfer or death
As one of the largest terrestrial mammals on Earth, hippopotamuses have
now spread across approximately 43,000 square kilometers (16,600 square
miles), according to Environment Ministry estimates.
With no natural predators and a stable, drought-free climate — a stark
departure from their native Africa — the animals found a sanctuary on
the “Island of Silence,” a vegetation-covered river island that has
become the heart of their expanding colony.
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Hippos wallow at a lagoon in the Hacienda Napoles Park, once the
private estate of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, in Puerto Triunfo,
Colombia, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Álvaro Molina, 61, who lives on the riverbank opposite the island,
recalls that the first pair arrived roughly 11 years ago. Since
then, the population has surged. “One night I saw 12 at once, but I
understand they have been migrating,” the fisherman says.
Encounters on the river are so frequent that Molina now takes them
for granted every time he goes fishing — especially at dusk. A few
years ago, his boat ended up right on top of two hippos which,
startled, capsized the vessel. The fisherman managed to swim to
another barge without injury.
“Whether they are killed or taken away, it does us a favor,” Molina
said, noting that the hippos have crippled the local fishing
industry because so many people have abandoned it out of fear.
The government’s control plan includes confinement, a move supported
by Puerto Triunfo residents, transfers to international sanctuaries
or zoos and euthanasia, a last resort reserved for cases where
non-lethal alternatives prove unfeasible.
Mammals in limbo
In Africa, these large-bodied herbivores that move constantly
between the water and the land “can significantly impact the
structure of ecosystems,” said Daniel Cadena, dean of the faculty of
sciences at the University of the Andes, who advocates for the
implementation of a mixed control strategy — including euthanasia.
But euthanasia is not necessarily easy. According to the official
protocol, the animals may receive a lethal injection after being
lured with food into a corral and immobilized. Alternatively, they
may be shot with long-range hunting rifles, but the weapons need to
be high-powered because hippopotamus skin is famously thick and
difficult to penetrate.
Sen. Andrea Padilla has urged the government to prioritize
relocation over killing.
“It is an extermination; it is a massacre of 80 individuals,”
Padilla said. “This is a legacy left to us by a drug trafficker. How
can we possibly close this chapter in the exact same way — by
shooting the hippos?”
Relocating the animals to other countries has failed to gain
traction.
Despite initial interest, the Environment Ministry said that no
country has committed to the transfer. Potential hosts have been
deterred either by the high costs of receiving the massive mammals
or by legal bans on importing invasive species.
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