Glad to see someone sane got to call off the hippo hunt in Colombia:

[Judi Lynn]

Hunt called off for drug lord's hippo
By Hugh Bronstein Hugh Bronstein – 53 mins ago

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia has called off the hunt to kill a drug lord's escaped hippo and will instead try to relocate the beast after its mate was shot dead by order of the government, sparking outrage from animal rights groups.

The giant animals were imported from Africa by late cocaine king Pablo Escobar and put in his zoo. They escaped in 2006 to live in the wild near the Magdalena river in northern Colombia, causing concerns about local public safety.

Colombia was shocked on Friday when photographs were published of the dead hippo, named "Pepe", and by news that the hunt was still on for his mate, "Matilda," who gave birth to a calf in the wild.

Bogota-based beer company Bavaria, owned by SABMiller, offered to bring in animal protection experts from South Africa and Tanzania to find the best way to care for the surviving hippo and her calf.

"We have accepted Bavaria's offer. The hunt is off," a spokeswoman for Colombia's Environment Ministry told Reuters on Wednesday. "The idea is to relocate the animals."

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090716/od_nm/us_hippo

[rabs]

1. Killing Pepe caused a big uproar

but more serious thinkers wrote about how the slaying of an innocent animal had touched Colombians more than the massacres of innocent civilians by murderous paramilitaries.

There were two new words coined by this episode.

The "hippocracy" of many Colombians ....

and Pepe was tagged as a "narco-hippo" that threatened Uribe/military

With Matilda saved, a zoological park in Bogota has agreed to take in Hip, the baby hippo.

[Billy Burnett]

2. Bummer for bachus29 that another "deadly" hippo or two won't be shot.

Also a bummer for some military unit that won't get a picture standing around a dead hippo trophy they pumped full of lead. :puke:

[Bacchus39]

3. I don't mind how they remove it, hippos don't belong in Colombia dead or alive!!

and hippos are dangerous. they are responsible for the most human fatalities in Africa of animal attacks.

any country would either kill or remove dangerous animals. Police do that all the time in the US. native animals too, look at alligators in Florida. bears are also killed. I've already said wild pigs.

what is your issue? the wrong thing to do would be to let a hippo just simply roam around.