Pablo Escobar’s pet hippos

Jul 6, 2016

Pablo Escobar’s pet hippos

Matt Bracken 0 Comment World Colombia, hippos, Pablo Escobar

More than 20 years after drug lord Pablo Escobar died in a gunfight with police, a strange legacy survives him: his pet hippos. Escobar bought four hippos from a zoo in California and flew them to his ranch in the early 1980s. Left to themselves on his Napoles Estate, they bred to become supposedly the biggest wild hippo herd outside Africa — a local curiosity and a hazard. Estimates put them at about 35 in the area nowadays.

: Picture of a sign warning about the presence of hippos in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia, near the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, taken on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: A hippo feeds at a farm on the outskirts of Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia, near the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, on June 21, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: A hippo feeds at a farm on the outskirts of Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia, near the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, on June 21, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: Hippo models are seen at Jorge Tulio Garces neighbourhood in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia, near the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: A hippo is seen at the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: A hippo feeds at a farm on the outskirts of Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia, near the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, on June 21, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: Picture of a sign warning about the presence of hippos in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia, near the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, taken on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: Hippos are seen at the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: A hippo model is seen in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia, near the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: A sign warns about the presence of hippos at the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: Hippos are seen at the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: Hippos are seen at the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: A hippo model is seen at Jorge Tulio Garces neighborhood in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia, near the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: A boy sits on a hippo model at Jorge Tulio Garces neighborhood in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia, near the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: Picture of a sign warning about the presence of hippos at Jorge Tulio Garces neighborhood in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia, near the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, taken on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: People pose for pictures at the entrance of the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: People watch as a hippo feeds at a farm on the outskirts of Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia, near the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, on June 21, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: A hippo feeds at a farm on the outskirts of Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia, near the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, on June 21, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: Hippos are seen at the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: A hippo feeds at a farm on the outskirts of Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia, near the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, on June 21, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: A hippo is seen at the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: A hippo is seen at the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, in Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia on June 22, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

: A hippo feeds at a farm on the outskirts of Doradal, Antioquia department, Colombia, near the Hacienda Napoles theme park, once the private zoo of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar at his Napoles ranch, on June 21, 2016. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

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