Escobar’s renegade hippo strolls through Colombian town, terrifying residents

[Judi Lynn]

Escobar’s renegade hippo strolls through Colombian town, terrifying residents

written by Lyra Bartell May 13, 2016

Locals in a town near the late Pablo Escobar’s Haciendo Napoles have been both intrigued and terrified to find hippos wandering down their streets.

One of the rogue hippos was spotted in Doradal, a small village in the municipality of Puerto Triunfo, midway between Bogota and Medellin.

This is not the first time hippos have been seen in the area, and despite efforts at containing the rapidly growing population, it will probably not be the last.

As biologist David Echeverri Lopez of the environmental organization Cornare explained, “For many years, these animals have gotten out to the town, but they don’t do it everyday, they have defined routes, they just don’t always abide by them,” newspaper El Tiempo reported.

. . .

Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions to this unprecedented hippo dilemma, leaving only trial and error.

In 2009, the authorities found that tracking down and shooting Pepe the hippo was an error. His death successfully unleashed a hailstorm of anger towards the Colombian government, as well as a flash mob of 100 hippo-masked activists dancing to “the lion sleeps tonight” in Bogota in protest.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/escobars-escapee-hippo-takes-midnight-stroll-alarms-colombian-town/

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[scscholar]

1. This is so sad

Another victim of the war on drugs.

[procon]

2. That's a lot of hippos.

Are they just turned out to forage on their own, and can they thrive in that environment. The people probably worry about their safety, and rightly so, those big beasties can do a lot damage to their property and food crops, not to mention the people.