Escobar's lawyered-up hippos recognized as people by US court

[turbinetree]

By Agence France-Presse
Published October 22, 2021

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In a first, a US court has recognized animals as legal persons -- specifically, the descendants of Pablo Escobar's hippopotamuses who have thrived in Colombia since the notorious drug lord was killed almost 30 years ago.

The ruling came after the nonprofit Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) filed an application seeking to allow two experts in nonsurgical sterilization of wildlife to provide testimony supporting a Colombian lawsuit to stop a cull.

At a federal court in Ohio, magistrate Judge Karen Litkovitz last week granted the request of the plaintiffs, the "Community of Hippopotamuses Living in the Magdalena River."

https://www.rawstory.com/escobar-s-lawyered-up-hippos-recognized-as-people-by-us-court/

[LeftInTX]

1. Those things are destructive like wild boars

[Ocelot II]

2. They are considered to be the most dangerous wild mammal in Africa.

https://lowvelder.co.za/245166/10-dangerous-animals-africa/ They can and do kill people. I don't think I'd want them wandering around my neighborhood.

[LeftInTX]

3. They're also an invasive specie....

I don't see what's wrong with sterilizing them? Will we outlaw spaying and neutering cats and dogs?

[Buns_of_Fire]

4. But you can't ask the hippos whether or not they've been sterilized.

That would be a HIPPO HIPAA violation.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

5. Nice! -- nt

[Omnipresent]

6. Plus, it's hard to get an answer out of them.

They’re always eating, because they’re hungry, hungry hippos!

[HAB911]

7. And for you

A Gold Star, and your 15,000th post?!