A TOTAL of 24 out of 80 hippopotamuses roaming on the former ranch of the late Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar were sterilised due to the “uncontrolled” spreading of this “invasive” species, authorities said last Friday.

Before he was shot dead by police in 1993, the notorious Escobar had purchased a number of exotic animals to live on his ranch, including flamingos, giraffes, zebras and kangaroos. After his death, all but the hippopotamuses were sold to zoos.

Escobar originally acquired a single male and female hippos.

They were left to roam on his Hacienda Napoles estate, which has since been converted into a theme park, as they were considered too large to try to move, but since then their numbers have multiplied.

The hippos were shot with darts to inject them with a medicine called GonaCon, according to a bulletin by Cornare, a regional environmental protection organization in the northwest of Colombia.

Another 11 hippos were previously sterilised by more traditional means.

Experts believe this to be the largest herd of hippopotamuses outside of Africa and it has led to problems.

The hippos are also responsible for “changing ecosystems” and attacks on local fishermen.

(SD-Agencies)