Notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar's hippos finally sentenced to death
Pablo Escobar's beasts had escaped from the cartel kingpin's compound when he died in a police shootout in Medellin, Colombia, and bred into a huge herd since then
Notorious drug baron Pablo Escobar's herd of cocaine hippos has finally been sentenced to death by judges in Colombia.
The beasts escaped from the cartel kingpin's compound when he died in a police shootout in Medellin in 1993. Since then, they have bred into a huge herd of nearly 200 animals polluting and damaging local landscapes and wildlife.
Experts fear their numbers could grow to more than 1,000 if they are not killed off. Now Administrative Court judges in the Colombian capital Cundinamarca have ordered the state's Environment Ministry to eradicate the animals within three months.
Judges on Friday, September 6 warned that previous bids to reduce the herd have failed and it has now grown to such a size that it could endanger human life. Attacks on fishermen have been reported on the Magdalena River, and experts argue manatee populations could be threatened.
READ MORE: UK streets flooded with £4billion of Colombian cocaine - smuggled in bizarre undersea operationClimate change legal expert Juan Pablo Sarmient said: "The discussion on what to do with invasive species is a global problem. "However due to the time that the presence of hippos in the country has spread, it has become a situation that cannot be prolonged any longer.
"These decisions must be faced to wipeout an invasive species because the impact they have on the environment generates risk to human beings."
Scientists fear that even the hippos' excrement could threaten fish species in Colombia. One hippo produces up to a 20lbs of waste every day. In Africa, where the beast originates, its poo provided key nutrients for fish and rivers and lakes to feed on.
But in Colombia, local flora and fauna are unable to feed on the waste and risk being killed off by it. Previously wildlife groups have urged the government to try controlled culling and even sterilisation to avoid mass killings. Some even campaigned for the herd to be rounded up and flown to Mexico.