Hippos for former owner Pablo Escobar will cost Colombia $3.5 million

Colombian authorities said on Wednesday they had made progress in moving 70 hippos that belonged to drug lord Pablo Escobar to sanctuaries outside the country.

However, this transfer would cost a huge sum of $3.5 million.

The Colombian authorities added that they are in the process of capturing the hippos and transferring half of them within the next few months, as they intend to send 10 of them to the “Ostok” reserve in northern Mexico and 60 to an unnamed facility in India.

Escobar had brought these mares to Colombia during the 1980s at the height of his power but after his death in 1993 they were left to roam freely in the hot swamps of Antioquia province, where they bred to 150.

“The whole operation will cost about $3.5 million,” said Ernesto Zazueta, owner of the Ostock Reserve.

Zazueta and the provincial governor, Aníbel Gaviria, want to catch the hippos by luring them with baits and keeping them in enclosures, where they will remain, before being placed in special boxes for transport.

The Colombian authorities had tried to launch a sterilization program to control the increase in the number of hippos, but failed