Some of the animals died or were transferred to zoos around the time Escobar was killed. But the hippos largely stayed put, flourishing in the artificial lakes dug at Escobar’s behest.
Carlos Palacio, 54, head of animal husbandry at Napoles, said Escobar started in 1981 with four hippos. Now, he said, at least 28 live on the estate. “With our current level of six births a year set to climb, we could easily have more than 100 hippos on this hacienda in a decade,” Palacio said.
“Some experts see this herd as a treasure of the natural world in case Africa’s hippo population suffers a sharp decline,” Palacio said. “Others view our growth as a kind of time bomb.”
The number of hippos on the hacienda could have reached 31 had Pepe, the slain hippo, not clashed about three years ago with the herd’s dominant hippo, then left with a mate for other pastures. Once established near Puerto Berrio, the mate gave birth to a calf.
Faced with the possibility of a nascent colony away from Napoles, Colombian authorities decided to act. After all, hippos, despite their docile appearance, are thought to kill more people in Africa than any other large animal.
Unable to find a zoo that would accept the three hippos in Puerto Berrio, officials in the department, or province, of Antioquia considered their options.
Capturing them was expensive, costing as much as US$40,000 for each hippo, in a country where malnourishment among the poor remains a major problem, said Luis Alfonso Escobar — not related to Pablo Escobar — head of Corantioquia, a state environmental organization. Taking them to Africa was dangerous, in addition to being expensive, because of the new diseases they might introduce there.
So the officials opted for a hunt and hired a nonprofit conservation group, the Neotropical Wildlife Foundation, to help manage the operation.
The foundation brought in two experienced hunters, Federico Pfeil-Schneider and Christian Pfeil-Schneider, both of whom also represent the car manufacturer Porsche in Colombia. To ensure the hunting party’s safety, the environmentalists also secured an escort
of soldiers.
All went as planned until the hunt’s details and the photo of the soldiers appeared in the news media. Outrage ensued. Newspapers speculated on the fate of Pepe’s severed head. (Luis Alfonso Escobar, of Corantioquia, rejected rumors that it went to the hunters.) A judge in Medellin issued a ruling suspending the hunt for Pepe’s mate and their offspring.
Meanwhile, other hippos may be on the loose. Palacio, the hippo caretaker here, said at least one was lurking in the waters of a neighboring ranch. Morkel, the veterinarian, said one or two others could have wandered off, according to local reports.
On the grounds of Hacienda Napoles, a sign warns visitors to the theme park. “Stay in your vehicle after 6pm,” it reads. “Hippopotamuses on the road.”
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