Pablo Escobar's hippos keep multiplying and Colombia doesn't know how to stop it

[csziggy]

CBS News February 9, 2019, 12:39 PM

Fishing villages, small boats and children at play dot the landscape along the shallow waterways of Colombia's Magdalena River. But an invasive species left behind by one of the country's most infamous figures is threatening the ecosystem and, possibly, a way of life.

That species? Hippos. The giants, native only to Africa, are now running wild in Colombia, reports CBS News' Manuel Bojorquez.

<SNIP>

The majority of the hippos still live inside Escobar's former estate, which was turned into a theme park in 2007, but the issue is that they can't keep them contained. Some have been able to get out which is how they are turning up in other areas.

Oberdan Martinez runs a theme park there, where the hippos are a main attraction. According to Martinez, Colombia's the only place you'll see a pack of hippos in the wild outside of Africa. He also said it's more common to see a hippo in that area than a pig.

More: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pablo-escobars-hippos-keep-multiplying-and-colombia-doesnt-know-how-to-stop-it/?fbclid=IwAR1BS3j0zADGidCsmtSJL_8X8lsYJVvwa3kkOveSeUl07LLcD3CFQGoggkA

[underpants]

1. Time to call the hippo sterilizer

People forgot the hippos.

[csziggy]

3. Are you volunteering for the job?

When I was very little Mom read me the story about Belling the Cat. Ever since I have taken that fable to heart - never propose a solution that I will not do myself.

[underpants]

4. Who, me?

No. Nice story though will use that.

I have an "office job" which means I make sure the papers go from the no finished side of the desk to the file. And yes I try not to use too much paper.

[csziggy]

5. LOL! Me, neither.

I like to see hippos - from a safe distance with solid fences or barriers between them and me - or on the television. Otherwise, I'll stay very far away.

I used to raise horses and even those "domesticated" animals beat the shit out of me on a regular basis. That is why I am spending my retirement turning into a bionic woman as the parts that were torn up, worn out, and broken are replaced. The worst injuries were from the young horses - not the half to three quarter ton grown ones. I don't even want to think about the damage a hippo would do when they are irritable or even playful!

[applegrove]

2. Hippos are the leading cause of death of humans by wild animal in Africa.

Someone stop it.

[LuvLoogie]

6. Hippo steaks. Any good?

It seems most Latin American governments have no will to protect their natural resources. Indigenous Amazonian are in the way of a hyper-bigoted force that negates the humanity of non-European blood lines.

[NCjack]

7. Drones. That's the answer to everything. nt

[IronLionZion]

8. Hippos could feed a lot of hungry people

probably tastes like pork

[47of74]

9. Or maybe chicken.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

10. Reminds me of a Beverly Hillbillies episode.