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SAN FRANCISCO — Today, the Animal Legal Defense Fund is urging animal advocates to contact leadership at American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Airlines requesting that each company to refuse to transport deceased hippos or parts of their bodies out of Colombia by hunters. More than 33,000 emails have been sent from advocates to the three airlines’ leadership in support of the campaign.
The Colombian government recently announced its intention to deem hippos — the descendants of four hippos illegally imported into Colombia in the 1980s by international drug trafficker Pablo Escobar — an invasive species, which would potentially allow them to be hunted. Roughly 100 hippos are at risk of becoming the latest victims in the tragic legacy of Escobar.
Since the hippos first arrived in Colombia, they have established themselves in the Magdalena River in the north-central region of the country. The Colombian government wants to prevent further spread of the non-native species, and in October began providing birth control injections to some of the hippos using a drug provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nonprofit organizations have offered to assist these efforts by providing additional doses of birth control drugs and logistical and operational support at no cost.
“We remain hopeful the Colombian government will continue its science-based and successful birth control program and not pursue hunting or otherwise killing the hippos,” says Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells. “As they did for the African ‘Big Five’ species in the wake of the killing of Cecil the lion, we ask that American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Airlines preemptively prohibit the transport of hippo ‘trophies’ on its flights from Colombia. This will help prevent the unnecessary killing of hippos by foreign hunters hoping to return home with a ‘Cocaine Hippo trophy.’”
Scientists assert…