What in the World
Apr 15, 2026
Hippos were first introduced to Colombia by drug lord Pablo Escobar. After his death in 1993, the hippos were left roaming free on his abandoned estate and their population kept on growing.
Colombia is the only country outside of Africa with a wild hippo population and they’ve become a tourist attraction there. But like other invasive species, they are an issue - tearing through villages and competing with native wildlife. The government has tried sterilising and relocating them but this has been expensive and unsuccessful. So now, they’ve decided to cull around 80 hippos to limit their growth but animal rights groups think other options might still be possible.
We speak to the BBC’s Climate and Science reporter, Esme Stallard, who explains how these decisions are made and why invasive species can be such an issue. And we hear from Manuel Rueda, a freelance journalist in Bogota, who has previously visited the hippos.
