An astonishing and scarcely believable tale that reads as if plucked from the dense magic realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez is making all the headlines here in Colombia this week.
The Hippo Family Thrive along the Magdalena River
The male and female fugitive hippos that escaped from Pablo Escobar’s former ranch Hacienda Napoles in Puerto Triunfo in August 2006 and their offspring born in the Colombian wilds are being hunted down and killed by Colombian bounty hunters.
Pepe, Killed
Pepe, the 2000 kilo macho alpha was killed in June not far from Puerto Berrío along the banks of the Magdalena River and the public outrage in Colombia has hit new levels with record numbers signing onto to voice their thoughts on the scandal on newspaper websites and social networking forums.
Pablo Escobar's Legacy
In order to fully understand this story you need to rewind a little and expose the bare facts. Prior to the notorious Cartel leader’s death on a rooftop in Medellin in 1993, Pablo Escobar, in a similar vein to many in his field of employment, lavished his dollars on outrageous and opulent spending sprees that were almost always of questionable taste.
Hacienda Napoles and its Zoo
One such spending spree resulted in his purchase and creation of the 8.4 sq mile Hacienda Napoles. Here, above the gates he placed the aircraft he used to smuggle cocaine into the US and within the compound he collected various exotic fauna such as giraffes, elephants, kangaroos and of course hippopotamuses.
13 years after his death, some of the animals had starved and died, others were adopted by zoos but the hippos had thrived becoming a family numbering 25, making this collection the largest wild grouping of the species outside of Africa.
By all accounts the fugitive hippos were thriving in the marshy environs of the Magdalena River, an area where the humidity is high and the temperature rarely dips beneath 32 degrees making it an ideal location for these animals.
The Colombian Government Speaks Out
The Government’s environment agency and local authorities pointed to problems of disease and destruction associated with the animals as their reasoning for the cull, a reasoning that does not sit well with a good quantity of locals and numerous Colombians.
Americamestiza on the El Espectador website says: “Pobre hipopotamo... un falso positivo.... el ejercito de colombia, como siempre.”
And Roberto Sanchez, a fisherman from Puerto Berrío, made the bold claim of having been within 20 meters of the beasts and not encountering any problems.
What Will be the Fate of the Two Remaining Hippos?
Now, given the mass outpouring of sympathy and growing bodies demonstrating outside the Governmental Environment Ministry’s offices in Bogota, new plans are being hastily assembled. Offers have come in from New York and Costa Rica but the most likely is that, if finally captured, mother and child, will be moved to the zoo in Cali.
This would hopefully bring to an end another saga resulting from the late Pablo Escobar’s actions, and of course one not without its victim, Pepe - another unfortunate victim of the drug kingpin’s excesses.
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