Today, Explained - Cocaine hippos (and the case against pets)

Episode Date: April 21, 2023

The descendants of Pablo Escobar’s pet hippopotami are wreaking havoc in Colombia. They can teach us non-druglords a thing or two about pet ownership. This episode was produced by Siona Peterous, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey and Michael Raphael, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained   Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Colombia has a hippo problem. Which is weird, right? Because Colombia historically doesn't have hippos. Except now it does. That's right. Dozens and dozens of hippos have found themselves very far from home, and now government officials and biologists have to figure out what to do about it. How they got there involves Pablo Escobar and mountains of cocaine. But the question is how to get them out, because they're causing all kinds of problems.

And what Pablo Escobar's cocaine hippos can teach us regular non-drug lords about pet ownership? That is coming up on Today Explained. This NFL season, get in on all the hard-hitting action with FanDuel, North America's number one sportsbook. You can bet on anything from money lines to spreads and player props, or combine your bets in a same-game parlay for a shot at an even bigger payout. Plus, with super-simple live betting, lightning-fast bet settlement, and instant withdrawals, FanDuel makes betting on the NFL easier than ever before. So make the most of this football season and download FanDuel today.

19-plus and physically located in Ontario. Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Today Explained. Today Explained, Sean Ramos for I'm here with Diana Duran. People in the States usually say Diana, but it's Diana. Diana covers South America for The Washington Post. I'm in Bogota, Columbus capital. Where they're having a hippo problem.

Yeah, they're a problem that has been growing for the past 30 years or so. Last week, we heard of an accident. A hippo was walking down a motorway and then a car came by, a family was in it, and they hit the hippo and the hippo was killed. The thing is, they are everywhere. In the past year, fisherman Pablo José Mejia has come across five hippos that have ventured outside the theme park. They're just, like, taking more and more space because there are more of them now

and because they have no natural predators in this country. They started out as just four, and now they do estimate that there are around 130, 140. Of course, it's difficult to know. When I think of this, I think of, have you ever watched this episode, the Simpson episode? I think it was like an iguana or something like that. Bolivian tree lizard? Mm-hmm. It's a vicious oviraptor. It feasts on bird eggs and lays its own eggs in the nest.

The unsuspecting mother bird cares for them until the babies hatch and devour her too. No one knows what to do with the animals that Bart brought in. What happens when we're overrun by lizards? No problem. We simply unleash wave after wave of

Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards. But aren't the snakes even worse? Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat. But then we're stuck with gorillas! Every solution is actually a new problem. Oh my gosh, okay. Rewind for me and help me understand how hippos came to Colombia.

Hey, you know Pablo Escobar, the drug lord? Yeah, I'm at his old house right now here in rural Colombia. Let's go back to the 80s, where there was this man that has become worldly renown. That is Pablo Escobar. And because he had all these crazy ideas about how to be the biggest man of the country, he decided that he wanted a zoo in his estate in Antioquia. He paid off a lot of state agents to smuggle the animals.

Because, I mean, even for Escobar, there is no way a person can smuggle hippos in Colombia without the authorities knowing. And that's what he did. He smuggled in a lot of animals. It was like an African safari inside his estate. And among the animals that he smuggled in, there were four hippos, one female, three males.

And those four hippos in the 80s became almost 200 hippos in 2023. Do we have any idea why Pablo Escobar wanted to have hippopotami and all these other animals in Colombia? Yeah, I think his personality explains it all. He had the idea that he could be so huge with regards to history. And he wanted to provide the country with a legacy, with his legacy.

And part of that included these ideas like, well, well, let's have a zoo. Why not? I'm so powerful that look how I can do this. Because he did it because he wanted to prove the world that whatever he wanted to do it, he could do it. Pablo Escobar was killed today, 16 months after his escape from prison. He died in a rooftop shootout with police at a home in Medellin. Of course, eventually Pablo Escobar goes down. But what happens to all of his animals? The animals were placed to different locations. They were transferred to other locations and they were kept safe. And I don't know what happened exactly at that moment with the hippos, but I do know that

they were set free. The nation took the estate and some of them then were relocated inside Hacienda Napoles, which was Pablo Escobar's estate. It was, I don't know how to say this in English, but it's like a private operator now has it and they have a tourism business inside the estate. So they have a place for hippos actually here. And one of them ran away last week. And that was the one who created the accident and the motorway. Were the hippos the only problem? Because you said he had a ton of exotic animals. Why is the problem we're talking about right now, the hippos and not, you know, the giraffes or, or, you know, the zebras. I think they had no clue about what to do with the animals. These hippos roamed free since they were too large and aggressive to capture.

And they probably said, just for hippos, what could go wrong with that? Let's set them free. And well, we know what went wrong with that. In Africa, hippos cause more human deaths than any other large animal. So far, there are no known attacks in Colombia. Yeah, so they have put in danger other species because they have become their predators. Manatees. Manatees. Nutrias. Otters.

Like local river animals who are tiny and because hippos are so territorial, they don't want any other animals where they are placed. Their feces are very toxic to the water, so they're polluting the rivers too. This fuels algae blooms and reduces oxygen available for native fish. In 2009, authorities actually acknowledged there were a problem. In 2009, a male hippo known as Pepe broke out of Escobar's compound and went on the rampage. He terrorized local fishermen and farmers claimed he attacked and killed six cows. The Colombian government

sent in the military to track down and execute Pepe. And it was a huge scandal. Protesters took to the streets in support of the hippos. Why? What was it killed? Was there any other solution possible? Why are we killing hippos? As a result, a judge ruled it illegal to hunt hippos in Colombia. Has anyone thought about maybe just trying to like return them to wherever they came from? Yeah, but the problem is no African country will take the animals because they're no longer native to Africa because they grew here. So if they go from here to Africa, if they're transferred, they can bring troubles in Africa.

It's like having a non-native animal into the country. The latest idea on it is from a Mexican sanctuary. It's called Oztoc. And it's run by businessmen who are also into the preservation of animals. And they want 10 of the hippos in Mexico. And they were like a bridge between Colombia and India with another sanctuary there. So they're going to transfer 60 hippos to India. That's the plan so far.

It's expensive. It's not easy, but it's not impossible. And it would solve half the problem here if they managed to do it. They're waiting for the permissions from the national government so they can take the animals out and place them in Mexico and India. Where does this saga of Pablo Escobar's hippos end? Are you just going to put a hippo on the Colombian flag one day? I think they're having a great life here, of course, because they have no problems. A few days ago, we heard of a new study that these advisors told the Minister of Environment that the hippos should be hunted.

You know, like they should be hunted down because there is no other way to deal with the problem. But the thing is, in Colombia, hippos do not have a place. And that's something that we have to accept as a society, not only as like specialists saying over and over again, but as a society, we have to accept. That was Diana Duran from the Washington Post. She's based in Bogota, Colombia.

So Pablo Escobar created this hippo crisis, not exactly relatable, but a lot of us have pets, and some of those pets are in peril. More on that in a minute on Today Explained. Support for Today Explained comes from Ramp. Ramp is the corporate card and spend management software designed to help you save time and put money back in your pocket. Ramp says they give finance teams issue cards to every employee with limits and restrictions and automate expense reporting so you can stop wasting time at the end of every month. And now you can get $250 when you join Ramp.

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They call me the hip-hop epitomist. My lyrics are bottomless. Today Explained, we are back, and we are here with Kenny Torella, who's a staff writer at Vox, who just recently published an article titled The Case Against Pet Ownership. Kenny, why do you hate pets?

You know, I've gotten a few emails this month asking me that very same question. But the thing is, is I actually really love animals. And counterintuitively, I think that's made me question pet ownership. You know, I've really come to wonder, you know, despite how much effort I put into trying to give my dog, Evie, a good life, I've just wondered, is she just really bored and frustrated a lot? And this isn't just like a you problem? I don't think it's just a me problem. You know, I think we have this narrative that pet keeping is this pure and innocent

and totally positive endeavor, you know, that pets are family members. Nine out of 10 people say that about their dogs and cats. And I think, you know, that is true for a lot of people and animals, that they enrich our lives, we enrich theirs. But if you start to dig under the surface of that narrative, you can find a lot of ugliness. So there's all the obvious stuff that any decent person would condemn, you know, like dog fighting or puppy mills or animal hoarding to go on the more extreme end, bestiality, physical abuse. That is very extreme. It is. But, you know, underneath it, there's this other layer of ethical issues in pet keeping that I think a lot of just regular people deal with. There's the extreme confinement in the case of small animals like fish and mice.

There's abusive training of dogs and cats, keeping animals outdoors in extreme temperatures, verbal abuse, lack of exercise, lack of vet care, boredom, etc. And, you know, this is all happening on a huge scale. There's around 250 million animals kept as pets just in the U.S. And, you know, to my surprise, actually, fish are tied for dogs. There's about 75 million dogs in the U.S., but also around 75 million fish. And a lot of those fish are definitely living sad lives. Most of them, you know, on a normal day in the U.S., but also around 75 million fish. And a lot of those fish are definitely living sad lives. Most of them, you know, on a normal day in the wild, you know, they'd swim a great distance.

But in American homes, you know, they're cooped up in small tanks. It's hard to imagine that being, you know, a good life for a fish. Is the point of this, though, that like they're here for us? Or is that the thing that you're taking issue with? One survey that I read found that the top reasons for why we get dogs or cats are for us? Or is that the thing that you're taking issue with? One survey that I read found that the top reasons for why we get dogs or cats are for us. You know, we want companionship. We want love and affection. We want protection. You know, we're thinking about what we can get out of the relationship. And so I think for a lot of people, pets are kind of an accessory or a toy or a hobby. You know, it's why there are so-called designer dogs

who are bred to be really cute or really small. But with our animals, you know, if they bark too much or they clop the furniture or they cost too much money, they go to the bathroom indoors, you know, they're seen as defective and returned or given away almost like any other defective consumer good. And then there's a chance that they might be put down. Each year in the U.S., almost a million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters each year. And an estimated few million

puppies are bred and sold. They're, you know, kept at what are called puppy mills that resemble industrialized factory farms. And there's actually been a growing trend among cities and counties and states to ban pet stores from selling cats and dogs and even rabbits and some other animals in an effort to try to get more people to adopt. Carter Evans tells us about California's first-in-the-nation law aimed at protecting puppies and kittens while bringing the pet stores to heel. Purebred puppies sold in pet stores will soon be a thing of the past after Governor Hochul signed legislation on Thursday to ban the sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits at retail pet stores.

So since 2010, more than 440 cities, counties, and states have banned the retail sale of cats and dogs. Some of the big states that have done this are California, Illinois. Just recently, New York State did that, as well as major cities like Philadelphia and Houston. I don't even have the words to say how I would feel if we really had to shut our doors. So are all these states in accordance with you

basically saying that y'all shouldn't have these pets? What are they trying to do here? So they don't ban the sale of pets outright. They really just ban the sale of pets from retail stores. But a lot of people actually end up getting their cats and dogs through more informal means. If it's not the shelter, then it could be a home breeder who might be treating their animals a lot better than a puppy mill. But again, each cat or dog that is purchased means one that's probably going to be euthanized from a shelter. But puppies and kittens

aren't just being sold at pet stores. They're also bred and sold at flea markets and other in-person events. There's also a lot of websites where you can buy a puppy and have them shipped to, you know, near your home for pickup. Okay, but these laws are aiming to like limit pet ownership or certainly limit like pets that are coming out of really toxic environments. But no one's trying to outlaw pet ownership and ain't going to happen in America. So why write the case against pet ownership? Well, the sub headline was why we should aim for a world with fewer but happier pets. You know, one conversation that stuck out while I was writing this article was a conversation I had with a bioethicist and author named Jessica Pierce, who said, you know, we have this idea of our pets that they're so pampered that they just get to lie around all day and be fed treats and play with a Frisbee if they feel like it. But actually, a life of just lying around and being fed treats is probably a really boring and frustrating life for a dog.

And not only could it be boring, it could also be kind of dangerous. You know, we expect dogs to be docile and agreeable and to be on their best behavior at all times. You know, essentially to adapt to our human norms and rules and schedules. To be a dog, but, you know, live copacetically in a human world, which is really hard for them. And so when dogs don't act the way that we want them to, or cats, you know, we chalk it up to misbehavior and we often punish them for that. Whether that means, you know, they're physically abused or verbally abused, or sometimes even abandoned.

You know, around 7 to 20%, according to one study, of adopted animals are returned to the shelter, often for their behavior. And so in writing this, I really wanted to kind of dispel this really fuzzy and warm narrative that everything around the human-animal bond is perfect and shouldn't be questioned. And that, you know, dogs and cats are just family members, but we often don't really treat them like that. And families have all sorts of problems too, Kenny. That's right. Families do have a lot of problems. And sometimes family problems can get even worse when you bring an animal into them. Dog divorces? I've seen them happen.

Dog divorces, yeah. So there have been cases that can drag out. But there's also a lot of stories that I've heard from parents over the years of saying, my kid, you know, really wanted a dog or a cat or a fish or a gerbil. And that was definitely me as a kid. And my parents gave in. And I think a lot of parents today give in. But kids can quickly move on to the next thing and get excited about a new hobby a month later. And then the pet is left alone or maybe given to another family. And understandably,

for a lot of families, they may get a pet or two, but then child care comes first. And so the pet is kind of, um, you know, a second class family member almost. What about you, Kenny? I mean, you have a dog. Is Evie going to be the victim of a dog divorce one day? I'm sorry. Uh, I hope not. But you know, I, I did write this article in part because I had a lot of guilt about Evie's life. You know, I think in many ways, she's one of the lucky ones. You know, my partner and I, we both work from home. So we have a little more time than most people to take her on a short walk during the day or play with her a little bit. But over time, I've, you know, really come to realize that, you know, what I thought was giving her a good life, the occasional walk, making sure she has water and food, occasional time with other dogs, I thought that that was sufficient.

But after talking with more and more dog experts and animal behaviorists, I've come to learn that that's really the bare minimum. And so I wrote this article in part just to learn more and also challenge myself and hold myself accountable to try to be a better dog dad. And I think a lot of people just don't even have the lifestyle to be able to do that. A lot of people don't work from home. Their dog or cat is just left alone for probably minimum 10 hours a day. And, you know, add on top of that, when you have to run errands or, you know, childcare or social time, they're alone even more. And so, you know, I don't begrudge people for, you know, falling into a really tough point in their life where they don't have the bandwidth to take care of a cat or dog as much as they need to. But I think, you know, to echo the words of Mark Beckhoff, an ethologist I talked to, you know, he really drove the point home that most people shouldn't have a dog or

maybe even a cat because it's a lot of responsibility. And so you're both, you know, doing a disservice to an animal if you adopt them, but then don't really have the time or energy or money to give them a great life. But you're also doing yourself a disservice because you're going to drive yourself crazy. If you know, you are trying to pay the bills and take care of your kids and take care of your parents while you have a dog barking at you all day or a cat meowing because they're bored or want to go outside. Ultimately, we should just have a much higher bar for how we decide to get a pet, but then also have a higher bar for what a good life can look like for them.

Be it a dog, a cat, a fish, a gerbil, or Pablo Escobar's cocaine hippos. That's right. Yeah, even the cocaine hippos need a good life, which it sounds like they do if they're just romping around in the water in Colombia. It's causing other problems, Kenny. It is. I think, you know, Pablo Escobar

probably should have thought twice before he bought hippos. But I think all of us should think twice before we get a cat or dog and really think, do we have the responsibility? Do we have the patience? Do we have the energy, the time and the money to give them a good life? Kenny Torella, Vox, dog owner. Her name's Evie. She's a good girl as far as I can tell. Our show today was produced by Siona Petros, also a dog owner.

Sammy hates being on camera. We were edited by Matthew Collette, dog father of Orzo. Fact-checked by Laura Bullard, whose dogs Muz and Murph hate eating salad. And engineered by Michael Rayfield, who doesn't have any pets. His neighbor's dog's name is Bob, though. The rest of the Today Explained team includes some cat people. Halima Shah's got Zoe, Miles Bryan has Ouija,

Avishai Artsy has Waffle, and Victoria Chamberlain has Glitchy Cat. Team Dog triumphs, though. Hadi Mawagdi's got Larry, Amanda Llewellyn's family's got Jimmy. I've got Snowy at Mom's house, and Noelle's got an angel named Ghouli. Paul Robert Mounsey's got Freya. Patrick Boyd's got Samuel Francis Boyd Leaf.

And Joey Myers has the honor of living with Boris Von Meatloaf, Beth Jobson Myers. Amina Al-Assadi tricked her sister into naming her family Cat Shakespeare by promising to clean up the litter box. She almost never did. Today, Explain is on the radio in partnership with WNYC. We are part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. you