The Colombian government has authorized a plan to euthanize dozens of hippos descended from animals smuggled into the country by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in the 1980s. There are an estimated 200 hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) scattered throughout Colombia, according to a 2022 census, which could exceed 1,000 by 2035. The animals are not native to South America; all are descendants of four hippos (three females, one male) that Escobar brought over illegally for the private zoo at his Hacienda Nápoles estate, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the city of Medellín. The hippos went feral after his death, multiplying and spreading to nearby waterways, eventually reaching the Magdalena, Colombia’s biggest river. Irene Vélez, Colombia’s environment minister, announced on April 13 that the government aims to cull approximately 80 hippos starting in the latter half of 2026, marking the first sanctioned hunt in 40 years. The government has budgeted some 7.2 billion pesos ($2 million) for the cull, which also includes provisions for confinement and relocation. “It is out of responsibility to our ecosystems that we must take these actions,” Vélez said at a press conference as reported by Spanish newspaper El País. She noted that previous efforts, such as sterilization, had failed to control the population and that talks with other countries about transferring the hippos to their zoos or sanctuaries hadn’t amounted to anything. “Today we are announcing a euthanasia protocol so that environmental authorities can implement it with the support of scientific institutions, because without this action it…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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