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An Indian billionaire’s son has offered to help Colombia get rid of a problem it has grappled with for years – a herd of hippos linked to notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar.<\/p>\n
Escobar, who was shot dead by police in 1993, illegally imported exotic animals, including a male and a female hippopotamus – dubbed the “cocaine hippos”.<\/p>\n
Their population grew and Colombia tried various methods of control – including castration – to no avail. It has decided to cull some 80 of the animals.<\/p>\n
Anant Ambani – son of Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani – says he is “willing to receive and care for” the animals at his private Vantara zoo in India’s Gujarat state. Colombia has not commented on the offer.<\/p>\n
In a letter to Colombia’s environment minister, the CEO of Ambani’s zoo said they were ready to give the herd “lifelong care” in India.<\/p>\n
The letter, published on the zoo’s Instagram account, said “at the heart of this proposal is Vantara’s belief that every life matters and that we have a shared responsibility to protect life wherever possible”.<\/p>\n
Escobar kept the hippos at his ranch, Hacienda N\u00e1poles – a luxury estate situated about 250km (155 miles) north-west of the capital Bogot\u00e1.<\/p>\n
After his death, the pair were allowed to roam free and multiplied along the basin of Colombia’s main river, the Magdalena.<\/p>\n
Efforts failed to contain the herd’s growth, with a lack of predators and the fertile and swampy Antioquia region providing perfect conditions for the native African animal to thrive.<\/p>\n
Colombian environmentalists say the hippos, believed to be the biggest herd outside Africa, are an invasive species and have pushed away the native fauna.<\/p>\n
Fishing communities along the Magdalena River have come under attack by hippos – one of the largest land animals, with adult males weighing up to three tonnes.<\/p>\n
Vantara zoo is home to 2,000 species, including elephants, tigers and other animals.<\/p>\n
Spread over 3,500 acres, it is located in Jamnagar, not far from Mukesh Ambani’s oil refinery – which is the largest in the world.<\/p>\n
It was one of the venues for Anant Ambani’s lavish pre-wedding events that made global headlines in 2024.<\/p>\n
The private zoo has drawn criticism from wildlife activists and conservationists for numerous reasons including the unsuitability of the region’s hot and dry climate for some of the animals.<\/p>\n
Pablo Escobar was the head of the Medell\u00edn cartel and dubbed the “cocaine king” who amassed an estimated $30bn (\u00a325bn) fortune smuggling drugs into Miami and the southern US.<\/p>\n
His reign of terror spanned more than a decade and involved kidnappings, hundreds of murders, bribery, bombings and turf wars with rival drug barons – as well as a brief sojourn as an elected politician.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n