It’s a perfect environment for these hippos. Only a handful escaped from Escobars zoo in the 80s or 90s, but the waters in Colombia are perfect for them. Rivers and watersheds they can live in are plentiful and they have no natural competition from other large predators like in Africa.
They’re up to like 200 strong now. The main concern is they are now inhabiting areas where humans come into close contact with them (primarily fisherman) and are worried about that. However, many locals love them because aside from getting to see majestic giant creatures - it does bring tourism and tourist dollars to the area.
They had piloted a program to spay the males but it was insanely expensive, dangerous and challenging to capture them and keep them anesthetized for 8 hours while they operated on the banks of a river.
This plan to cull them has received a lot of criticism but seems like it’s the only option to prevent massive proliferation.
36
Dex235415 days ago
+16
Not to be that guy but you spay female animals and neuter male animals.
16
PluginAlong5 days ago
+21
That's why it was so expensive and didn't work. /s
21
ajmartin5275 days ago
+8
I literally had a brain fart when I was typing this because I couldn’t remember neuter so I just rolled with it haha appreciate the correction.
8
joeldetwiler4 days ago
+1
Not to be that guy, but neuter is a general term that can refer to either the spaying of females or the castration of males.
1
Lint65 days ago
-4
They've tried that. Its very expensive and hard to do
-4
Blueberry_H3AD5 days ago
+15
Have they tried asking the hippos politely to stay on their side of the fence?
15
NameIsNotBrad5 days ago
+28
They did, but the hippos are hungry, hungry, so they keep coming back looking for food.
28
kodex1845 days ago
+2
Is the plan to kill all of them or just make the population smaller?
2
Dracapulco5 days ago
+2
To kill appropriately 80 hippos
2
The_Fluffness5 days ago
+1
I'm in support of this because of how invasive they are in that area. They are destroying natural eco systems for other animals to live and breed, animals that are sometimes at MORE risk of extinction. I believe in keeping some of the Hippos alive, but for 200 strong is far more than is needed to continue the generations of hippos, so yeah as a conservationist I think this is a very smart move.
1
ajmartin5275 days ago
+2
100% agree, they are invasive regardless of how majestic they are. The local ecosystems definitely aren’t equipped to survive hundreds of amphibious giants romping around and eating flora. They don’t get that big from dieting.
It’s unfortunate but the right thing to do.
2
legitimateaccount1235 days ago
+21
Coming soon, from the creators of *Cocaine Bear*....
21
bmarvin355 days ago
+8
Heroin hippos?
8
yunabladez5 days ago
+5
I propose Hippopioidtamus
5
Loose_Skill66415 days ago
+8
I bet they introduced the hippos to stop the federali's from sneaking in the water to spy on him
8
BaronVonShtinkVeiner5 days ago
+6
This DLC for Tropico 6 is really getting crazy.
6
into_the_soil5 days ago
+7
Reminder/fun fact for those who aren't aware; Theodore Roosevelt wanted to introduce hippos to the Louisiana bayous. There was a bill, that thankfully failed, in 1910 which he was a supporter of.
7
funguy075 days ago
+3
They wanted to do it to raise meat for consumption, Lake Cow Meat was a thing the country tried to make happen for a while. Pretty wild story.
3
Competitive-Fruit-185 days ago
+2
Could you imagine hippos and the Florida python problem merging
2
JojenCopyPaste4 days ago
+1
Imagine. A snake big enough to eat a hippo
1
BalkanFerros5 days ago
+2
So I looked it up and apparently those who have eaten hippo meat say it's delicious...
2
JojenCopyPaste4 days ago
+3
Really? They don't look delicious. But I guess don't knock what you haven't tried. Apparently the giant tortoise was so delicious it wasn't given a name for 300 years because the sailors always ate them all before they got back.
3
BalkanFerros4 days ago
+3
Apparently "Lake bacon" and "Lake cow" have been descriptors of hippo meat
3
mrwankyshitdemon694 days ago
-1
Boycott Colombia
-1
cowghost5 days ago
+1
Booo.
1
Competitive-Fruit-185 days ago
+3
They need to be culled, for all of the right/ correct reasons. 200 Hippos eat and 💩 so much. Plus they can easily kill anything or anyone. Anyone opposed to this is idiotic.
28 Comments