With the aim of controlling the growth of hippos, Colombia has successfully developed the start of the project to sterilize them.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himWith the aim of controlling the growth of hippos in the South American country, environmental authorities have successfully developed the first phase of the immunocastration pilot project in the Magdalena Medio region.
No sacrifices for hippos in Colombia, an invasive species brought in in the 80s by drug trafficker Pablo Escobar. After long months, the debate about their situation ends with the successful launch of the first immunocastration pilot project, the main objective of which is to control the growth of these wild animals in the Magdalena Medio region. (READ also: Pablo Escobar's hippos colonized the rivers of Colombia. And now they want to cull them all)
© Cornare
After receiving, for this first phase, a donation of 55 doses of the drug GonaCon from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States - the only country to produce this contraceptive - a group of expert technicians from the Corporación Autónoma Regional de las Cuencas de los Ríos Negro y Nare - Cornare has been commissioned to start the administration.
For now 24 hippos have been injected with GonaCon, in addition to the other 11 that had already been sterilized before with the traditional method. Two strategies were used to apply the drug to hippos: through darts to individuals lured and captured in a special enclosure or directly in lakes, using dart guns.
© Cornare
According to Cornare, compared to a surgical sterilization that can cost between 25 and 30 million, not counting the personnel risk and complexity, GonaCon is a much cheaper option. However, it is still quite complex as, based on studies and comparisons made on other large animals such as horses, experts suggest giving 3 doses.
It is an effective contraceptive in males and females, initially implemented in the population adjacent to the Hacienda Napoles Theme Park ”, explained Gina Paola Serna Trujillo, veterinarian of Cornare.
Hippos in Colombia
In 1981, drug trafficker Pablo Escobar illegally brought three male and one female hippos to his Hacienda Nápoles, located in the Antioquia department. After his murder in 1993, the government took control of his property, but not of the specimens of this species, the same ones that have reproduced and which now - according to a study published in January in the journal Biological Conservation - could be in the 80s. and 140 specimens.
Due to a lack of natural predators and a favorable climate, scientists have warned that this number could grow to nearly 1.500 by 2040, at which time the species would cause irreversible environmental damage and the population would be too large to control. For this reason, for more than 10 years, Cornare has been looking for alternatives that allow it to stop the demographic growth and the spread of the hippo population in the area.
The displacement of our local fauna and the modification of ecosystems, this has already been scientifically proven, moreover, by occupying spaces where fishermen develop their productive activity, attacks can occur. Likewise, with no control, no predators or no confinement, population growth is uncontrolled, ”explained David Echeverri López.
Will GonaCon be the solution? we do not have a certainty, however, after years of research and management plans, hope arises. Meanwhile, specialists are monitoring the project which could at least serve to control the birth of hippos, brought to Colombia at the absurd whim of a criminal.
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Source: Cornare
Read also:
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- The wildlife trade may cause an upcoming epidemic, the study of over 800 mammal species
