Colombian officials have authorised a plan to cull dozens of hippos roaming freely through a region in the centre of the country, where they threaten villagers and displace native species, years after notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar brought in the first ones.

Environment Minister Irene Vélez said previous methods to control their population have been expensive and unsuccessful, including neutering some of the animals or moving them to zoos.

Ms Vélez said up to 80 hippos would be affected by the measure.

She did not say when hunting would begin.

“If we don’t do this, we will not be able to control the population,” Ms Vélez said.

“We have to take this action to preserve our ecosystems.”

Colombia is the only country outside of Africa with a wild hippo population.

A hippopotamus with its head out of the water

A hippo swims in the Magdalena river in Puerto Triunfo, Colombia. (AP: Fernando Vergara)

The hippos are the descendants of four brought to the country in the 80s by Escobar as he built a private zoo in Hacienda Nápoles, a gigantic ranch in the Magdalena River Valley with a private landing strip that served as his rural home.

Escobar died in 1993.

A study published by Colombia’s National University estimated that about 170 hippos were roaming freely in the country in 2022.

Recently, hippos have been spotted more than 100 kilometres north of the ranch.

Environmental authorities in Colombia say the mammals pose a threat to villagers who have encountered them in farms and rivers.

They also compete for food and space against local species such as river manatees.

Despite the challenges, the hippos have also become a tourist attraction, with residents of villages surrounding Hacienda Nápoles offering hippo-spotting tours and selling hippo-themed souvenirs.

Grey hippo key rings, with bright pink detail around the ears, are dangling from a rail in a shop.

Hippo key rings at a souvenir shop near the Hacienda Napoles Park. (AP: Ivan Valencia)

The hippos are also one of the main attractions at the Nápoles ranch, which was confiscated by Colombia’s government after it seized Escobar’s properties.

It now functions as a theme park, featuring swimming pools, water slides and a zoo that includes several other African species.

Animal welfare activists in Colombia have long opposed proposals to kill the hippos, arguing they deserve to live.

They say that addressing the problem through violence sets a poor example for a country that has gone through decades of internal conflict.

Escobar’s hippos causing trouble

Drug kingpin Pablo Escobar was once public enemy number one in Colombia. Now, years after his death, animals from his zoo are wreaking havoc in the nation.

Andrea Padilla, a senator and animal rights activist who helped draft a law against bullfights in Colombia, described the plan to cull the hippos as a “cruel” decision, and accused government officials of trying to take the easy way out.

“Killings and massacres will never be acceptable,” Ms Padilla wrote on X.

“These are healthy creatures who are victims of the negligence” of government entities.

Over the past 12 years, spanning three presidential administrations, Colombia has tried to neuter some of the hippos to reduce their population.

But the initiatives have had limited scope due to high costs that come with capturing the dangerous animals and performing surgeries on them.

Because Colombia’s hippos come from a limited gene pool and could carry diseases, taking them back to their natural habitat in Africa has been considered unfeasible.

AP