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Pablo Escobar's hippos must be culled to halt biodiversity disaster – scientists

Sqrt

Sqrt

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,880
Hippos imported illegally into Colombia for Pablo Escobar's private zoo have gone feral in the lush tropical countryside and must be culled before their invasive presence starts to wipe out indigenous flora and fauna, scientists have warned.

A group of scientists is warning that the hippos pose a major threat to the area's biodiversity and could lead to deadly encounters with humans. They say the hippos must be culled or their numbers could reach around 1,500 by 2035.

"I believe that it is one of the greatest challenges of invasive species in the world," said Nataly Castelblanco-Martínez, an ecologist at the University of Quintana Roo in Mexico and lead author of the group's study.
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www.theguardian.com

Pablo Escobar's hippos must be culled to halt biodiversity disaster – scientists

Huge animals abandoned on Colombian drug lord’s hacienda zoo are loved by locals but their sheer numbers threaten environment
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

What should be done, Era?
 
WestEgg

WestEgg

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,047
Hippos as an invasive species sounds like a disastrous ecological nightmare. Sorry to say, but yeah, those hippos need put down.
 
f0rk

f0rk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,694
Those hippos must be getting busy to go from 80 to potentially 1500 in 15 years.
 
Curler

Curler

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Oct 26, 2017
15,595
carlsojo said:
Can't they be relocated to a preserve?
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I'd like to see them sent to a preserve, zoos, or even back to Africa if possible, but their massive size and weight I'm sure would make it problematic. Poor hippos :( I do feel bad for invasive species and the need to be culled, because most of them are at the fault of people making awful decisions...
 

JDSN

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,129
We've had this argument for years, just waste the fuckers. The country is broke as fuck and we already don't value the gift of life.
 
Dyle

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,894
I would not want to be on the team taking out those hippos. Sounds like an unpleasant way to die
 
wholahay

wholahay

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Dec 18, 2017
707
Imagine getting demolished by a feral hippo and knowing in your final moments that the only reason there are hippos in Colombia is Pablo Escobar
 
IggyChooChoo

IggyChooChoo

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Oct 25, 2017
8,230
When they say "culled," do they mean kill them off completely, or to just reduce their population to a more sustainable size?
 
Richietto

Richietto

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Oct 25, 2017
22,952
North Carolina
It really sucks that because of dumb ass people they have to kill these animals but what other option is there? Transporting them doesn't seem like an option.
 
antonz

antonz

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,309
aevanhoe said:
Compassion at its finest.
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Local wildlife and plant life is being wiped out by the hippo which do not belong. So yes you wipe out the invasive species to preserve the rest.

Hippo are not friendly animals. They are aggressive and extremely dangerous. They are king of the hill foodchain wise in South America and that will lead to massive loss of life and destruction of habitat
 
Moppeh

Moppeh

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Oct 28, 2017
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collige

collige

Member
Oct 31, 2017
12,772
Wikipedia says that Hippos hit sexual maturity at 5 years old, so them breeding out of control over a few generations makes sense.

carlsojo said:
Can't they be relocated to a preserve?
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I would imagine that the costs for safely capturing 60 feral hippos and shipping them to Africa are pretty crazy compared to just shooting them.
 
Dennis8K

Dennis8K

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,161
If they are going to wreck the local ecosystem they should be relocated, of if not feasible, culled.
 
JJD

JJD

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,499
Just put then down if the potential harm is that big.

Hippos are not endangered or anything.
 
EntelechyFuff

EntelechyFuff

Saw the truth behind the copied door
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Nov 19, 2019
10,133
JDSN said:
We've had this argument for years, just waste the fuckers. The country is broke as fuck and we already don't value the gift of life.
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15766.jpg
 
KeyBladerXIII

KeyBladerXIII

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Dec 5, 2017
4,620
As much as I hate to say it, they need to be eliminated to save the native biomes. This is all due to human idiocy, and the logistics of capturing and transporting such massive and dangerous animals to a preserve or "back to Africa" is pretty much impossible. i dont even know if you can tranquilize a hippo with a dart gun because of their thick skin.
 
Kcannon

Kcannon

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Oct 30, 2017
5,661
H.Cornerstone said:
Huh, I read the exact opposite about them:
www.popsci.com

Pablo Escobar’s invasive hippos could actually be good for the environment

Pablo Escobar was a notable character for a lot of reasons—being one of the richest criminals in history, for one. But there was also his desire for having exotic, non-native animals roam around his grounds in Colombia. As the years have passed since the drug kingpin was taken out, most of those...
www.popsci.com www.popsci.com
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There's nothing in LaTam to keep the hippos in check, unlike in Africa where Lions, Elephants and Crocodiles can face them. That's basic biodiversity logic.

Heck, the article you linked points this out and yet also ignores it for some reason.
 
samred

samred

Amico fun conversationalist
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Nov 4, 2017
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Seattle, WA
hippos are one of the scariest species in the world, by far, in terms of aggression and physicality. they won't hesitate to fuck you up, and last I checked, their stats are known to be astronomical.

www.smithsonianmag.com

Hippo Haven

An idealistic married couple defy poachers and police in strife-torn Zimbabwe to protect a threatened herd of placid pachyderms
www.smithsonianmag.com www.smithsonianmag.com

Although accurate numbers are hard to come by, lore has it that hippos kill more people each year than lions, elephants, leopards, buffaloes and rhinos combined.
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Curler

Curler

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Oct 26, 2017
15,595
antonz said:
Panda are just an evolutionary deadend that only exist because Humanity finds them cute and pours obscene amounts of money into keeping them alive.
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OR their cuteness is an evolutionary trait as the only means to keep them alive! But seriously, without humans finding them completely adorable, I'm not sure how long they would last as wild creatures...


Kcannon said:
There's nothing in LaTam to keep the hippos in check, unlike in Africa where Lions, Elephants and Crocodiles can face them. That's basic biodiversity logic.
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I'm sure even jaguars would nope out at their huge size :/ Even their strong jaws aren't built for tackling something like that...
 
Curler

Curler

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Oct 26, 2017
15,595
IggyChooChoo said:
www.vice.com

There's a Possible Upside to Eating Pablo Escobar's Hippos

The drug kingpin left behind more than just a trail of cocaine. He also left a small herd of hippos, which could feed a small army of hungry Colombians.
www.vice.com www.vice.com

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If they could feed hungry communities in the area, I'd be fine with this. Just a shame to kill them all and pile up the bodies and do nothing with them. Never really thought about what hippos would even taste like (or that they were really even edible!) Too dangerous of game to hunt to eat in most cases, I guess.
 
NCR Ranger

NCR Ranger

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Oct 25, 2017
5,837
Kill or relocate. If they are doing that much damage those seem to be the only options.
 
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KDR_11k

KDR_11k

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Nov 10, 2017
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Kcannon said:
There's nothing in LaTam to keep the hippos in check, unlike in Africa where Lions, Elephants and Crocodiles can face them. That's basic biodiversity logic.
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Do they, though? Lions and crocodiles tend to stay the fuck away from hippos and elephants don't exactly go hunting. Maybe they can manage to take down a few babies but an adult hippo's biggest threat is other hippos because they're territorial and fight to the death.

super-famicom said:
Can hippos be tranq'd?
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The description of the neutering process suggests that you have to move them into a cage before tranquilizing them.
 
WestEgg

WestEgg

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KDR_11k said:
Do they, though? Lions and crocodiles tend to stay the fuck away from hippos and elephants don't exactly go hunting. Maybe they can manage to take down a few babies but an adult hippo's biggest threat is other hippos because they're territorial and fight to the death.
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Adult Elephants can take on hippos, but mostly they leave each other alone. Bigger crocodiles will also attack hippos. They don't usually win, but even hippos aren't immune to a giant crocodile's death roll.
 
Kcannon

Kcannon

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Oct 30, 2017
5,661
KDR_11k said:
Do they, though? Lions and crocodiles tend to stay the fuck away from hippos and elephants don't exactly go hunting. Maybe they can manage to take down a few babies but an adult hippo's biggest threat is other hippos because they're territorial and fight to the death.
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The fact they can take babies is exactly why they can keep hippos in check. Plus, lions and crocodiles all act in packs.

Plus, certain diseases and droughts that do not exist around here, but do in Africa.

Our jaguars are solitary. They wouldn't stand a chance.
 
Tuorom

Tuorom

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Oct 30, 2017
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Invasive species are a pretty interesting case imo

They do out-compete many native species and form large monocultures and do terrible damage

but on the flip side, animals find niches in these new habitat compositions. Ecosystems will adjust in time, it is not as if invasive species are a new thing. I watched a docu recently that T.Rex is at the end of a pathway that started in Asian, they crossed the ice bridge into North America and speciated (I prob didn't remember this right)

Humans just create more opportunity for invasion. Idk but the idea that invasive species are bad or not is interesting.

I did some work removing Phragmites australis which is an invasive reed to Canada. It creates massive dense stands of reeds, monocultures. But I read up on it and some researchers found that many animals found shelter within the new structure. Smaller fish can hide in the dense stands, birds can make nests inside, but then there is also the fact something like a turtle might have difficulty traveling through it. It's an interesting ecological change. Is it harmful in the short term? Sure. Will the ecosystem eventually adapt to this invasive species? Likely, just not necessarily in our time.
 
Baccus

Baccus

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Dec 4, 2018
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BlueBomberX said:
It's funny how when it's not people so many people are okay with complete annihilation.
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But they /represent/ the annihilation of an entire native ecosystem in the most biodiverse country in the world, and they were originally brought as a trophy pet for a crime lord and a murderer.

Deal with them as it is possible and necessary.
 
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