Colombia is putting its 'cocaine hippos' on birth control

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CNN
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Colombia may have finally found a solution to one of the lesser-known legacies of notorious drug trafficker Pablo Escobar: invasive hippos.

The regional environmental agency Cornare said some hippos were treated with darts laden with a contraceptive drug.

Colombia is putting its 'cocaine hippos' on birth control
Colombia may have finally found a solution to one of the lesser-known legacies of notorious drug trafficker Pablo Escobar: invasive hippos.
cnn.com
5:01 PM · Oct 18, 2021

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/18/americas/colombia-hippos-drug-gonacon-intl-latam/index.html


Bogota, Colombia (CNN) — Colombia may have finally found a solution to one of the lesser-known legacies of notorious drug trafficker Pablo Escobar: invasive hippos.

A handful of hippos brought to Colombia in the 1980s for Escobar's private zoo has grown to a population of 80, prompting biologists to express concern over their environmental impact and threat to human safety. In January, a study published in Biological Conservation called for the growing herd -- now ranging wild in the Antioquia department -- to be culled.

The regional government has instead tried neutering the enormous beasts, but traditional surgical sterilization is too dangerous and demanding to scale up. Only 11 of the hippos have so far been sterilized this way, according to local authorities.

On Friday, however, the regional environmental agency Cornare announced its efforts to control the hippo population had led to 24 more hippos being treated with a new method: darts laden with the contraceptive drug GonaCon.

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