Overview
- Anant Ambani and his Vantara center formally asked Colombia on Tuesday to pause a plan to kill 80 hippos and to allow their relocation to Gujarat, India.
- Colombia authorized the lethal removal on April 13 to curb an invasive herd descended from Pablo Escobar’s zoo that scientists say harms rivers and threatens fishers and native species.
- Vantara says it will fund the operation, lead veterinary capture and long-haul transport, meet biosecurity rules, and house the hippos for life in a purpose-built habitat at its Jamnagar center.
- Any transfer would need approvals from Colombia and India plus international permits, and officials in Bogotá have not publicly accepted or answered the offer.
- Colombia has struggled for years with sterilization and export plans that proved risky or costly, including a prior estimate of about $3.5 million per animal to ship them to Africa, and Vantara itself has drawn scrutiny even after India’s Supreme Court found no legal wrongdoing.