Posted on 07/14/2009 6:57:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Hunters have shot dead a fugitive hippopotamus that escaped from a menagerie owned by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
They are now searching for another two hippos, which have been branded a danger to society, just like their former owner.
The trio had been living in a tropical valley after escaping almost three years ago from Escobar's property. They were part of an exotic collection of animals that the cocaine baron assembled during his heyday as a billionaire drug trafficker.
Pablo Escobar's fugitive hippo spotted in northern Colombia Colombia's most-wanted drug lord arrested Lions and tigers kept as pets in danger of mistreatment, claims RSPCA Anti-obesity pill 'could cut weight by a quarter' More animals than ever in danger of becoming extinct Authorities ordered that the hippos, two adults and a calf, be hunted down and killed amid concerns they were damaging crops and endangering humans, the Guardian reports. "It was only a question of time before those animals hurt someone," the environment minister, Carlos Costa, said. "After more than two years of trying to capture them, the decision [to kill them] was a sound one." Escobar was cornered and shot dead in 1993. After his death, the state took over his legendary ranch, Hacienda Napoles, where Escobar had kept kangaroos, elephants and rhinos. Most of the animals were given to zoos but about two dozen African hippos remained and thrived.
A male and a female broke out in 2006 and settled in wetlands near the Magdalena river about 65 miles from the ranch.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Happy hippos no mo.
Great, new fodder for nightmares: coked up hippos.
A P.O.’d hippo will kick your butt.
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