How Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ became a biodiversity nightmare

Animals brought illegally to Colombia by the drug kingpin have been allowed to roam free and are now disrupting the fragile ecosystem.

Michael Safi speaks to reporter Joe Parkin Daniels and veterinarian Gina Paola Serna about Pablo Escobar's cocaine hippos'

Myths and legends continue to surround Colombia's most notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar 26 years after his death. But his legacy has had an unexpectedly disastrous impact on some of the country's fragile ecosystems. A herd of more than 80 hippos roam free, the descendants of animals smuggled to Colombia from Africa in the 1980s and now flourishing in the wild.

Reporter Joe Parkin Daniels tells Michael Safi that when Escobar was shot dead by police on a rooftop in his hometown of Medellin, the authorities seized his estate and the animals on it. While most were shipped to zoos, the logistics of moving his four hippos proved insurmountable and they were left to wander the Andes.