The Nile Horse Was Killed By A Car On Jalan Bogota-Medellin Near Pablo Escobar's Plantation

This is not a hippo in question, this is just an illustration of Photo by Chris Waiter on Unsplash

JAKARTA - The Colombian fire department reported that a hippo was hit and killed by a vehicle on the Bogota-Medellin highway. The incident took place near the plantation where the late drug king Pablo Escobar kept a semi-aquatic mammal that has now become an invasive species. Firefighters in Puerto Triunfo's municipality in northwestern Maria Magdalena Perez told Agence France-Presse (AFP), the animal weighing more than a ton was found lying on a road near Escobar's hacienda. Escobar was killed in a shootout with police in 1993. He had brought a small herd of hippos to Colombia in the late 1980s. After his death, the animals were allowed to roam freely in hot cloudy areas in the Antioquia department. Environmental authorities cannot curb the population, which now amounts to 150 animals. A collision with a hippo destroyed the front of a pickup truck, but no one was injured. "There was only one boy, not injured," said Perez, quoted from the dailysabah, Thursday, April 13. A hippo was also involved in a car accident in the same area in December, but firefighters said the animal survived. Colombia's environmental ministry declared the hippos an invasive species last year, which eventually opened the door to annihilation. Previous efforts on the sterilization program to control the population failed. Experts warn that uncontrolled animal reproduction threatens local and wildlife populations. In March, the governor of Antioquia announced plans to move 70 hippos to foreign heritage in Mexico and India. The operation is estimated to cost $3.5 million and involves transporting a hippo about 150 kilometers (93 miles) by land to the nearest international airport.