The faith of a herd of hippos once owned by drug lord Pablo Escobar has been sealed.
Hippos are a familiar sight in sub-Saharan Africa frolicking in the water where they belong.
But thanks to the megalomaniac idea of Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar in the 1990s, a herd of hippos found their new home in the private zoo of his estate Hacienda Napoles.
After Escobar was killed in 1993, the Colombian government took over the ranch. Since then, the herd of hippos have escaped the site and settled in the nearby lakes and rivers.
The animals have destroyed local flora and fauna, while fishermen have said the animals are out of control.
Experts fear the herd could grow to more than 1,000 if they are left to their own devices, the Sun reports.
But now the days of the Colombian hippos could be done once and for all after years of back and forth, including a plan to ship dozens of them to Mexico, India and Peru.
The Administrative Court judges in Cundinamarca have now ordered the country’s Environment Ministry to kill the hippos within three months.
They believe the herd has become a danger to humans, the outlet reports.
The decision brings an end to accusations levelled against Colombian authorities claiming they are plotting to kill the animals.
Ernesto Zazueta, the director of Ostok Sanctuary in Mexico, has previously accused the Ministry of Environment of planning ‘ethical euthanasia’ and lack of will to remove them.
Previous plans included a culling programme and sterilisation last year, but this failed to happen and the animals were left to their own devices.
Locals have claimed the hippos have ‘started to attack people,’ with one resident labelling them ‘very, very dangerous,’ according to Fox News.
The hippos have reportedly attacked fishermen on the Magdalena River and they could be a threat to the river’s manatee population.
Francisco Sánchez, an environmental official told The Guardian the herd will ‘get all the way to the sea’ and they are ‘completely out of control.’
Experts fear the hippos’ excrement could overwhelm the waterways as a single animal can produce up to 20lbs of faeces each day, the Sun reports.
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