Target: Irene Velez Tores, Colombia Environmental Minister
Goal: Do not cull hippos living on Colombia’s wild lands.
Dozens of descendants of deceased drug lord Pablo Escobar’s Colombian “cocaine hippos” have been marked for death. The animals first gained recognition after the notorious criminal imported them to Colombia as part of a planned wildlife refuge. When Escobar was killed, some of the hippos escaped – and immediately inhabited the surrounding lands. The problem: hippos are not native to Colombia, and as an invasive species they can compete with native species for vital resources. Due to their tremendous sizes, it is a fight the hippos typically win.
In the decades since, the hippo population has expanded in size to roughly 200. Local officials fear the number could skyrocket to 1,000 without intervention. Enter the culling plan, which would include the killing of at least 80 hippos. The plan has met with immediate backlash, both from locals (who protested when just one hippo was killed) and from conservationists, who still believe a better and less deadly containment method exists.
Sign the petition below to urge the continued exploration of these life-saving alternatives.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Minister Velez Tores,
Colombians have co-existed with the hippo population for decades, and for better or worse, they have become a fixture of the landscape. The plan to cull 80 members of this population will do nothing in the long-term to curb future population growth. It will just delay the inevitable.
A long-term solution that prioritizes the well-being of these animals who call Colombia home through no fault of their own is needed. While prior efforts to relocate the hippos to zoos or other refuges have failed, all avenues have not been exhausted. And a recent effort with surgical castration has yielded positive results. Sterilization methods may be expensive in the short-term, but they could very well prove their worth in the future.
Larger animals once roamed Colombia, and they lost their chance at longevity mostly due to humans. Please do not condemn these often misunderstood and maligned wildlife to the same fate.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Alvaro Morales
