A vehicle collided with a hippopotamus at the entrance to the Doradal corregimiento, in Puerto Triunfo, Antioquia, which caused the death of the animal on the spot and minor injuries to the occupants of the truck.
According to preliminary information, the animal would have escaped from the Hacienda Nápoles in hours of the night of this Tuesday and reached a busy road and that was where a truck ran over him, causing injuries to his costal area.
The road was closed in one lane while the Transit and Transportation Section of the Antioquia Police carried out the removal of the hippopotamus and the vehicle that was left in a total loss.
According to the authorities, there was no need to transfer those injured in the crash because they did not present serious injuries.
It should be remembered that on March 7, the governor of the department of Antioquia, Aníbal Gaviria, announced that 70 hippos sthey will be relocated from Colombia to Mexico and India.
A total of 10 specimens will be sent to a sanctuary in Mexico and 60 to a park in India. Transfer costs could amount to USD 1 million, according to Cornare, an environmental protection entity.
During his lifetime, drug trafficker Pablo Escobar brought into the country some 1,200 exotic animals from around the world, including elephants, ostriches, zebras, camels, giraffes and hippos, which he kept at his private ranch, Hacienda Nápoles, in Antioquia.
After his death in 1993, most of the animals were transferred to zoos around the country, except for the four hippos, one male and three females, because they could not be captured and transported.
Three decades later, the animals have spread throughout the country, especially in Puerto Triunfo, near the Magdalena River basin. Experts say there appear to be more than 100 hippos in the country and their population continues to grow steadily due to a lack of natural predators. In 10 years there could be more than 150 hippos, according to a study by the Humboldt Institute, a biodiversity research institution.