Menu

Post image 1
Post image 2
Post image 3
1 / 3
0

Vantara: Son of Asian billionaire offers to save Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ from culling

The Independent·Shweta Sharma·about 1 month ago
#bj2NuYov
Reading 0:00
15s threshold

The son of an Indian billionaire has offered to take in 80 hippos from Colombia after officials there recently approved a plan to euthanise the animals whose population is expected to exceed 500 by 2030 without intervention. The hippos, an invasive species in Colombia, are part of a population of 200 that continues to reproduce unchecked. They are the offspring of animals illegally brought to the country in the 1980s by the late drug kingpin Pablo Escobar for his private zoo at Hacienda Nápoles – a sprawling valley estate that featured a private airstrip and served as his secluded fortress. After his death in 1993, most of the animals were relocated, but the animals, dubbed “cocaine hippos” locally, were left behind because they were difficult to move. Anant Ambani, the son of tycoon Mukesh Ambani , has formally requested the Colombian government for the translocation of the 80 animals to his animal centre, Vantara, located in Jamnagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat .…

Continue reading — create a free account

Join HashtagPLUS to read full articles, follow hashtags, vote, and join the conversation.

Read More