New Delhi:In the 1980s, Escobar, the head of Colombia’s drug empire, brought four hippopotamus from Africa for his private zoo. He was killed in 1993 by a joint us and Colombian army. After this, the animals were removed from the private zoo near the city of Medellín, but the four water elephants took shelter in the nearby wetlands.In the last three decades, their number has increased to 75. About 200 kilometers of the magdalena, Colombia’s main river, is now in the grip of these water elephants. Several cattle from local villages were killed in their attack. Even people have been affected. The police had to shoot and fire a few water elephants to bring the situation under control.
Nowhere else in the world is such a large group of water elephants outside Africa. Environmentalists believe that if this continues, the local ecosystem will be severely damaged. In this situation, colombia’s ministry of forest and environment wants to relocate water elephants to India and Mexico. The final decision has also been taken in consultation with the two countries in this regard, according to the media of that country.
