Hi All,
I´m sorry, I know this is not an "ecological" response but since this is a common mistake the more people aware of it the better. It is not Col*U*mbia, is Col*O*mbia. Thanks Juan 2009/9/11 Bill Silvert <[email protected]> > This story from the New York Times, September 11, 2009, raises issues > relevant to the list! > > Bill Silvert > Colombia Confronts Drug Lord's Legacy: Hippos > By SIMON ROMERO > DORADAL, Colombia - Even in Colombia, a country known for its paramilitary > death squads, this hunting party stood out: more than a dozen soldiers from > a Colombian Army battalion, two Porsche salesmen armed with long-range > rifles, their assistant, and a taxidermist. > > They stalked Pepe through the backlands of Colombia for three days in June > before executing him in a clearing about 60 miles from here with shots to > his head and heart. But after a snapshot emerged of soldiers posing over his > carcass, the group suddenly found itself on the defensive. > > As it turned out, Pepe - a hippopotamus who escaped from his birthplace > near the pleasure palace built here by the slain drug lord Pablo Escobar - > had a following of his own. > > The meticulously organized operation to hunt Pepe down, carried out with > the help of environmentalists, has become the focus of an unusually fierce > debate over animal rights and the containment of invasive species in a > country still struggling to address a broad range of rights violations > during four decades of protracted war with guerrillas. > > "In Colombia, there is no documented case of an attack against people or > that they damaged any crops," said Aníbal Vallejo, president of the Society > for the Protection of Animals in Medellín, referring to the hippos. "No > sufficient motive to sacrifice one of these animals has emerged in the 28 > years since Pablo Escobar brought them to his hacienda." > > Sixteen years after the infamous Mr. Escobar was gunned down on a Medellín > rooftop in a manhunt, Colombia is still wrestling with the mess he made. > > Wildlife experts from Africa brought here to study Colombia's growing > numbers of hippos, a legacy of Mr. Escobar's excesses, have in recent days > bolstered the government's plan to prevent them - by force, if necessary - > from spreading into areas along the nation's principal river. But some > animal-rights activists are so opposed to the idea of killing them that they > have called for the firing of President Álvaro Uribe's environment minister. > > Peter Morkel, a consultant for the Frankfurt Zoological Society in > Tanzania, compared the potential for the hippos to disrupt Colombian > ecosystems to the agitation caused by alien species elsewhere, like goats on > the Galápagos Islands, cats on Marion Island between Antarctica and South > Africa, or pythons in Florida. > > "Colombia is absolute paradise for hippos, with its climate, vegetation and > no natural predators," Mr. Morkel said. > > "But as much as I love hippos, they are an alien species and extremely > dangerous to people who disrupt them," he continued. "Since castration of > the males is very difficult, the only realistic option is to shoot those > found off the hacienda." > > The uproar has its roots in 1981, when Mr. Escobar was busy assembling a > luxurious retreat here called Hacienda Nápoles that included a > Mediterranean-style mansion, swimming pools, a 1,000-seat bull ring and an > airstrip. > > "He needed a tranquil place to unwind with his family," said Fernando > Montoya, 57, a sculptor from Medellín who built giant statues here of > Tyrannosaurus rex and other dinosaurs for Mr. Escobar. > > Hired by private administrators of the seized estate, part of which is now > a theme park (imagine mixing "Jurassic Park" and "Scarface" into a theme), > Mr. Montoya rebuilt the same statues after looters tore them apart searching > for hidden booty. > > But Mr. Escobar was not content with just fake dinosaurs and bullfights. In > what ecologists describe as possibly the continent's most ambitious effort > to assemble a collection of species foreign to South America, he imported > animals like zebras, giraffes, kangaroos, rhinoceroses and, of course, > hippopotamuses. > > Some of the animals died or were transferred to zoos around the time Mr. > Escobar was killed. But the hippos largely stayed put, flourishing in the > artificial lakes dug at Mr. Escobar's behest. > > Carlos Palacio, 54, head of animal husbandry at Nápoles, said Mr. Escobar > started in 1981 with four hippos. Now, he said, at least 28 live on the > estate. "With our current level of six births a year set to climb, we could > easily have more than 100 hippos on this hacienda in a decade," Mr. Palacio > said. > > "Some experts see this herd as a treasure of the natural world in case > Africa's hippo population suffers a sharp decline," Mr. Palacio continued. > "Others view our growth as a kind of time bomb." > > The number of hippos on the hacienda could have reached 31 had Pepe, the > slain hippo, not clashed about three years ago with the herd's dominant > hippo, then left with a mate for other pastures. Once established near > Puerto Berrío, the mate gave birth to a calf. > > Faced with the possibility of a nascent colony away from Nápoles, Colombian > authorities decided to act. After all, hippos, despite their docile > appearance, are thought to kill more people in Africa than any other large > animal. > > Unable to find a zoo that would accept the three hippos in Puerto Berrío, > officials in the department, or province, of Antioquia considered their > options. > > Capturing them was expensive, costing as much as $40,000 for each hippo, in > a country where malnourishment among the poor remains a major problem, said > Luis Alfonso Escobar - not related to Pablo Escobar - head of Corantioquia, > a state environmental organization. Taking them to Africa was dangerous, in > addition to being expensive, because of the new diseases they might > introduce there. > > So the officials opted for a hunt and hired a nonprofit conservation group, > the Neotropical Wildlife Foundation, to help manage the operation. > > The foundation brought in two experienced hunters, Federico Pfeil-Schneider > and Christian Pfeil-Schneider, both of whom also represent the car > manufacturer Porsche in Colombia. To ensure the hunting party's safety, the > environmentalists also secured an escort of soldiers. > > All went as planned until the hunt's details and the photo of the soldiers > appeared in the news media. Outrage ensued. Newspapers speculated on the > fate of Pepe's severed head. (Luis Alfonso Escobar, of Corantioquia, > rejected rumors that it went to the hunters.) A judge in Medellín issued a > ruling suspending the hunt for Pepe's mate and their offspring. > > Meanwhile, other hippos may be on the loose. Mr. Palacio, the hippo > caretaker here, said at least one was lurking in the waters of a neighboring > ranch. Mr. Morkel, the veterinarian, said one or two others could have > wandered off, according to local reports. > > On the grounds of Hacienda Nápoles, a sign warns visitors to the theme > park. "Stay in your vehicle after 6 p.m.," it reads. "Hippopotamuses on the > road." > > Jenny Carolina González contributed reporting from Bogotá. > -- Juan Carlos Márquez Hoyos M. Sc. Ph.D. Student McMaster University, Department of Biology Life Sciences Building, Rm. 302 1280 Main St. West, Hamilton ON Canada L8S 4K1 Phone: 905.525.9140 Ext. 23041 Fax: 905.522.6066 [email protected]
