# Stupid drug lords and their hippos **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 12, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936 "2014-07-12T17:07:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/1 "2014-07-12T17:07:19Z")
> **[Pablo Escobar’s hippos: A growing problem](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27905743)** > > The late drug baron had a herd of the animals, which are now out of control in Colombia. Just what do you do with 60 hippos? Columbian riverine fisher-folk are being menaced by the descendants of Pablo Escobar’s escaped pet hippos. This is bad. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/2 "2014-07-12T17:16:39Z")
And here I thought “hippo” was going to turn out to be some kind of drug slang, like “mule.” ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/3 "2014-07-12T17:26:37Z")
They need to be killed, sorry. They’re an invasive species, that will, in time, negatively affect the local eco-system. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/4 "2014-07-12T18:18:34Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > They need to be killed, sorry. They’re an invasive species, that will, in time, negatively affect the local eco-system. I hope you mean the drug lords, not the hippos. Seems wrong to punish the hippos for behaving like hippos. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/5 "2014-07-12T18:51:02Z")
It’s amazing to me that they haven’t become so much hippo chowder slash Cartel target practice. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/6 "2014-07-12T19:08:12Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > I hope you mean the drug lords, not the hippos. Seems wrong to punish the hippos for behaving like hippos. It’s not punishment. I mean, you aren’t going, “Bad hippo! Bad hippo!” You’re killing them so that humans don’t die instead. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/7 "2014-07-12T19:26:02Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > Seems wrong to punish the hippos for behaving like hippos. It’s not punishment. It’s protection for the local ecosystem from an invasive species that seems as if it would be perfectly able to vastly expand its currently limited territory. This needs to be nipped in the bud before there are thousands of hippos across thousands and thousands of square miles of an ecosystem where they do not belong. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/8 "2014-07-12T19:30:05Z")
> [@straight\_man](#): > > It’s not punishment. I mean, you aren’t going, “Bad hippo! Bad hippo!” You’re killing them so that humans don’t die instead. It’s us against them. Only one side gets all the marbles. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/9 "2014-07-12T19:48:28Z")
One word: Piranha! ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/10 "2014-07-12T19:48:56Z")
Well, judging from the attitudes here, there goes my plan to introduce rhinos into East Texas. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/11 "2014-07-12T20:25:18Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > It’s not punishment. It’s protection for the local ecosystem from an invasive species that seems as if it would be perfectly able to vastly expand its currently limited territory. This needs to be nipped in the bud before there are thousands of hippos across thousands and thousands of square miles of an ecosystem where they do not belong. Jeezus…how fast do you think hippos _breed_? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/12 "2014-07-12T20:31:37Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Jeezus…how fast do you think hippos _breed_? The article says the females thump out one cub per year. Which become sexually active three years later… and very probably then start porking Mom. That really does mean a lot of multi-ton critters in a short timespan. They went from 12 to 40+ in 20 years. Projecting blindly that’s 120 hippos 20 years from now, 360 when I retire and a thousand when I (fucking _finally_) die. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/13 "2014-07-12T20:40:58Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Well, judging from the attitudes here, there goes my plan to introduce rhinos into East Texas. They’re already on game ranches in the middle of the state. Texas Disposal Systems lists them as one of the species available for viewing at their ranch in Buda. Too bad about the lepto in the meat, though why doesn’t Colombia just open it up to limited hunting?No shortage of rich people willing to plunk down 10k, or whatever the powers that be want to charge , to thump some critter. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/14 "2014-07-12T20:46:58Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Jeezus…how fast do you think hippos _breed_? Did I say that it would happen tomorrow? If nothing is done about it, it _will_ happen. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/15 "2014-07-12T20:55:06Z")
Lighten up, Francis. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/16 "2014-07-12T21:16:17Z")
There’s no such thing as a bad hippo; just a bad owner. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/17 "2014-07-12T21:28:14Z")
Ooh, ooh, I know! Introduce lions and crocodiles and other predators, to keep the numbers down! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/18 "2014-07-12T21:32:37Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > I hope you mean the drug lords, not the hippos. Seems wrong to punish the hippos for behaving like hippos. I think you might feel differently if you had a bunch in the river behind your house. Hippos are the most dangerous large animal in Africa. They kill thousands of people every year. “Hippos behaving like hippos” often results in dead people. Even a few hippos can be very destructive to the local environment. They really need to be eliminated. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/19 "2014-07-12T21:32:56Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > There’s no such thing as a bad hippo; just a bad owner. Pablo Escobar was indeed very bad. So there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936/20 "2014-07-12T21:36:37Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Too bad about the lepto in the meat, though why doesn’t Colombia just open it up to limited hunting?No shortage of rich people willing to plunk down 10k, or whatever the powers that be want to charge , to thump some critter. I didn’t know what lepto was until I looked it up, but if the concern is its presence in the meat, could that problem be solved with cooking? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-drug-lords-and-their-hippos/692936.md?page=2)