No stranger to the law, Pablo Escobar's hippos have been saved by a legal oddity. Photo / Sachin Mittal, Unsplash
No stranger to the law, Pablo Escobar's hippos have been saved by a legal oddity. Photo / Sachin Mittal, Unsplash
The oversized exotic pets of a notorious Colombian drug lord have been saved by eleventh-hour legal gambit.
In the late 1980s Pablo Escobar imported four hippos to a private zoo on the River Magdalena. 26 years after the death of the cocaine kingpin and the abandonment of his Hacienda, the offspring of the prodigious hippos now number over 80.
Smuggled illegally into the country, nobody knows where the animals came from but they have thrived in the Colombian wetlands, with no natural predators. Scientists are worried that the sub-Saharan hippos are damaging the ecosystem.
Weighing up to 1,800kg each, they are an invasive species of epic proportions.
Too big to move, local authorities have called for a cull.
Earlier this year courts recognised the 'non-human rights' of Maldonado's client a 19-year-old spectacled bear named Chucho, who was deemed to be unlawfully detained by the Río Blanco Nature Reserve. Now Maldonado has stepped in to save the hippos from sterilisation and euthanasia.
Estuvimos en @AlRojoVivo hablando de la decisión del Tribunal del Distrito Sur de Ohio, se trata de que los hipopótamos recauden pruebas en su favor, no de que allá se resuelva su situación. Gracias @Telemundo por el espacio para dar claridad. https://t.co/URdsEtRGsB
"The Colombian legal system treats non-human beings with great consideration for their protection, partly because of the outstanding jurisprudential breakthroughs made by the Constitutional Court," Maldonado said, in an interview with the nonhuman rights blog.
The case has also been heard outside of Columbia when it was brought to the Federal Court in Ohio by an animal welfare group.
The case from nonprofit Animal Legal Defense Fund was granted by Judge Karen Litkovitz, last Friday, who found the hippos to be 'legal persons'.
US law allows American courts to pass rulings on behalf of 'legal persons' in foreign litigation cases where their rights are in danger of being violated.
Although, this might be the first time that the US court has intervened on behalf of a hippo.
"In granting the application … the court recognised the hippos as legal persons with respect to that statute," ALDF said in a statement.
The right to freedom might extend to the right to life, but reproductive rights are off the table.
While the curious legal case is ongoing in the courts, Columbian authorities say they have begun sterilising the hippos with a contraceptive drug, according to AFP.
Maldonado's case is arguing that the hippos should be treated by a different course of contraceptives, rather than culled or forcibly sterilised by dart gun.
The groundbreaking US Federal Court order might be the first time the US has intervened on behalf of exotic animals and will likely bolster his case.
'Hacienda Napoles': The estate of Former drug lord Pablo Escobar in Puerto Triunfo is now a safari park. Photo / Getty Images
Hacienda Napoles Safari
Apart from the hippos, local tourism operators in Puerto Triunfo will be delighted by the ruling.
Since falling into disrepair the Pablo Escobar's Napoles estate was turned into a safari park.
The operators run tours looking for Bengal tigers, lions and jaguars in the 1600 hectare wilderness, once owned by the cocaine drug lord.
The safari park is the largest in Colombia, earning visits from animal lovers and tourists with an interest in the country's dark history and drug wars.
"After a difficult time for the country, it became an environment for the conservation of species and a tourist attraction," says the park's website. "It is a landmark for the entire region, with a proposal based on environmental, cultural, knowledge and recreation content for the whole family."
The park which charges 51000 Colombian dollars entry (about $19) proudly boasts about the herd of wild hippos as "the only one that lives free outside of Africa. Seeing them is a privilege!"
