Overview
- Colombia’s Environment Ministry, which announced the policy on Monday, approved euthanasia for up to 80 free‑roaming hippos as part of a new control plan.
- The program is set to begin in the second half of 2026 with a 7.2 billion‑peso budget and will use confinement, relocation efforts and formal protocols for chemical or physical euthanasia.
- Authorities estimate the herd at roughly 160 to 200 animals and warn numbers could reach as many as 1,000 by 2035 without stronger action.
- Officials cite rising encounters with residents and harm to rivers and native wildlife, including manatees and river turtles, driven by heavy waste loads and soil disturbance from the animals.
- Years of sterilization attempts and talks to send hippos abroad have stalled with no foreign permits and inbreeding concerns, while animal‑rights advocates led by Senator Andrea Padilla condemn the cull as cruel.