'The Hunt for Escobar's Hippos': Release date, plot, cast and all you need to know about the Smithsonian Channel docuseries
Pablo Escobar is best known as the Columbian drug lord and narcoterrorist, but what most people don't know or recall is that he built himself a zoo. To that end, Escobar smuggled in elephants, giraffes and other exotic animals. Among them were four hippos — three females and one male — to live in Hacienda Napoles, the vast ranch owned by him. Hacienda Napoles was confiscated in the early 1990s, and all the animals — except the hippos — were dispersed to zoos around the country. The hippos thrived and have since become a real problem for Columbia's ecosystem.
A new docuseries from Smithsonian Channel explores what happened to these hippos after Escobar's death and what experts are doing to try and solve the problem. Read on to know more details about the series.
Release date
'The Hunt for Escobar's Hippos' will premiere on Smithsonian Channel on Wednesday, August 26, at 8/7c.
Plot
Notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar’s brutal regime ended in a hail of bullets. His infamous reign of terror left Colombia with the legacy of a corrupt narco-state and something more bizarre: African hippos. In the 1980s, Escobar smuggled four hippos into Colombia to join his growing collection of exotic animals at his $63-million estate outside Medellin. Left to fend for themselves in the wake of his death, these extremely dangerous beasts – responsible for more deaths in Africa than lions or crocodiles – broke out. Today, breeding at twice their typical rate and with no natural predators keeping them in check, more than 60 animals roam the Colombian wilds, wreaking havoc in villages at night and threatening the ecosystem that feeds into the Magdalena River, Colombia’s main watershed.
Surprisingly, Colombians adore their hippos despite the dangers, and it’s illegal to cull them. Left with no other option, Colombian veterinarian Dr Gina Serna is tasked with capturing and sterilizing them – an operation extremely difficult to perform in the wild of Colombia. The situation of the Colombian hippopotamus is an ecological time bomb that urgently needs to be diffused. As the largest foreign invader in Colombia, these formidable creatures pose not only a serious threat to human life but also to the country's wildlife and native ecosystem. Aggressively frontal and territorial, the consequences could be catastrophic.
“This was a story we immediately knew we had to tell,” said the executive producer for Smithsonian Channel, Tria Thalman in a press release. “Americans know Escobar’s legacy all too well but this invasion of hippos that now threatens Colombia’s wildlife is a remarkable, unexpected twist to the sordid tale of drugs and violence.”
Cast
Dr Gina Serna
Dr Gina Serna is a Columbian veterinarian and is a specialist with Cornare who helps manage the hippopotamus issue in Columbia. Cornare is an environmental agency that is responsible for the region where the hippos are currently located. It has been tasked with finding a solution that residents are comfortable with but that also deals with the animals in a humane way.
Producers
'The Hunt for Escobar's Hippos' is an AGB Films production in association with Oak Island Films for Smithsonian Channel and Terra Mater Factual Studios. Executive producers Phil Fairclough and Ted Oakes join Sabine Holzer and Susanne Lummer from Terra Mater Factual Studios. Tria Thalman and David Royle serve as executive producers for Smithsonian Channel.
Clips
If you like this, you'll love these:
'Pablo's Hippos'
'Escobar: Paradise Lost'
'The Elephant in the Living Room'
'Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness'
'Pablo Escobar: King of Coke'