Who can house a hippo? Colombia hopes export part of Pablo Escobar's bloat

Hippos float in the lake in 2021 at Hacienda Napoles Park, once the private estate of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, in Puerto Triunfo, Colombia. He imported three female hippos and one male hippo decades ago. It's believed that there are now more than 100 in the area, and that they pose a threat to the local ecosystem. (Fernando Vergara/AP)

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia is proposing transferring at least 70 hippopotamuses that live near Pablo Escobar's former ranch – descendants of four imported from Africa illegally by the late drug lord in the 1980s – to India and Mexico as part of a plan to control their population.

The hippos, which are territorial and weigh up to 3 tons, have spread far beyond the Hacienda Napoles ranch, located 200 kilometers from Bogota along the Magdalena River. Environmental authorities estimate there are about 130 hippos in the area in Antioquia province and their population could reach 400 in eight years.