Government's plan for Pablo Escobar's 'cocaine hippos' will cost $3.5 million

Colombia’s plans to relocate Pablo Escobar’s so-called ‘cocaine hippos’ are set to cost around $3.5 million.

I appreciate that sentence is quite a bit to get your head around, so let’s start at the beginning.

Back in the 1970s and '80s, the infamous drug lord managed to build the biggest cocaine empire on the entire planet.

And, as a man who was certainly no stranger to an illegal import or two, he decided to set up his own personal zoo - complete with some hippos, of course.

The former head of the Medellin Cartel ordered four hippos to be shipped into Colombia for his little menagerie, alongside other exotic creatures such as giraffes and kangaroos.

However, following his death in 1993, the Colombian government seized the estate and most of the animals within it, expect for the hippos, which were abandoned due to the cost and logistics of attempting to move them.

Gualberto Becerra / Alamy Stock Photo

But if officials thought the hippos would quietly die out on their own, then they were very wrong and the so-called ‘cocaine hippos’ have flourished in the Colombia with the population now estimated to be between 130 and 160.

Not only that, but scientists have warned that by 2040, there could be almost 1,500 cocaine hippos living in the wild in the country.

The hippos, which have no natural predators in the area, have extended their habitat along the Magdalena River basin, which could pose a threat to the local environment, not to mention the local residents.

Anibal Gaviria, governor of Antioquia Department, said: “We’re looking to save the lives of hippos, but also to protect the lives of people in the Magdalena Medio region.”

As a result, the government has been forced to devise a plan to transfer them to other countries to try and control the population.

IanDagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo

David Echeverri López, a spokesperson for local environmental authority Cornare, which would be in charge of the relocations, said: "It is possible to do, we already have experience relocating hippos in zoos nationwide.”

Possible? Maybe. But cheap? Absolutely not.

Speaking during a press conference this week, officials have said it will cost a staggering $3.5 million to go ahead with the plans.

A deal has been worked out between the local Antioquia government and numerous institutions including the Colombian Agricultural Institute, the Colombian Air Force and the Ostok Sanctuary in Mexico, a press release explained.

According to the release, 10 will be shipped off to Oskok Sanctuary, while a sanctuary in India is set to take 60 of them.