The son of an Indian billionaire has said he’ll adopt Pablo Escobar’s infamous cocaine hippos to spare them from culling.
Anant Ambani, the son of Mukesh Ambani, estimated to be price greater than £70 billion, has asked the animals to be relocated to his animal centre.
The hippos have posed an issue for Colombia, where they became an invasive species after being delivered to the country by the drug lord.
Escobar, dubbed the ‘King of Cocaine’, forged a zoo of kangaroos, zebras, and other exotic animals at his lavish estate, which became a tourist attraction after he died in 1993.
Most of the roaming hippos, which pose a danger to humans, could be killed, based on Colombian officials.
In an announcement, Ambani said: ‘Vantara has the expertise, infrastructure and resolve to support this effort, entirely on Colombia’s terms.
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‘These 80 hippos didn’t select where they were born, nor did they create the circumstances they now face. They reside, sentient beings, and if we’ve the flexibility to avoid wasting them through a protected and humane solution, we’ve a responsibility to try.’
The Colombian Ministry of Environment began to sterilise them in 2023, but that they had been living freely in rivers and reproducing without control.
Locals have branded the beasts as ‘aggressive’ and ‘unpredictable’, and said they ‘hide’ in the event that they come across a member of the herd.
With no natural predators, they’ve been free to breed, rapidly increasing in number and reproducing more quickly than their African cousins while also stripping away the local vegetation.
Hippos eat as much as 40kg of grass day by day, which ends up in less food for native species just like the capybara, the world’s largest rodent.
As well as, waste produced by the hippos can contain harmful bacteria and likewise overwhelm the local waterways with nutrients, resulting in harmful algal blooms.
The country attempted a cull in 2009, but a graphic photo of well-known local hippo Pepe being shot caused outrage amongst locals and activists.
Authorities previously warned that, if left unchecked, hippo numbers could reach 1,000 by 2035.
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