Indian Tycoon Offers Refuge to Pablo Escobar’s Condemned Hippos

Colombia was planning to slaughter 80 hippopotamuses after a small herd imported in the 1980s by the drug lord grew out of control. An Indian tycoon has offered them a new home instead.

By Alex Travelli

Indian billionaire’s son offers to house Pablo Escobar’s hippos at his private zoo

Anant Ambani revives offer to transport 80 animals, all descendants of Colombian drug kingpin’s pets, to India It remains one of the strangest conundrums in modern zoological history – what to do with the descendants of Pablo Escobar’s hippos? The animals – herbivores native to sub-Saharan Africa – were originally imported into Colombia by the drug kingpin for his own entertainment. But the beasts and their offspring were left to roam free after his death in 1993. Continue reading...

By Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi

Indian billionaire heir offers to save 80 of Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ from Colombian cull - CNN

Indian billionaire heir offers to save 80 of Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ from Colombian cull  CNN

Indian billionaire's son offers home for Escobar's hippos

An Indian billionaire's son offered on Tuesday to take hippos descended from those introduced to Colombia by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, rather than have the animals killed. Anant Ambani, the son of tycoon Mukesh Ambani, said he had formally requested the Colombian government to stay a decision to kill the animals, which have wreaked havoc on rivers in the South American nation.

By FRANCE24

The story of Colombia’s ‘cocaine hippos,’ and why they have become a threat to native biodiversity