Pablo Escobar's hippos must be culled to halt biodiversity disaster – scientists

Huge animals abandoned on Colombian drug lord's hacienda zoo are loved by locals but their sheer numbers threaten environment

Hippos imported illegally into Colombia for Pablo Escobar's private zoo have gone feral in the lush tropical countryside and must be culled before their invasive presence starts to wipe out indigenous flora and fauna, scientists have warned.

One of the notorious drug lord's great extravagances saw him amass a collection of hippos, kangaroos, giraffes, elephants and other exotic animals in his hacienda fortress from where he established the world's biggest cocaine empire in the 1980s.