On the Magdalena River in Colombia, more than 100 hippos live freely,
They graze, play, and look no different from ordinary hippos.
But a few days ago, their identities changed due to a lawsuit.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Ohio held that these hippos are human beings in the legal sense and enjoy the same legal rights as humans.
They can initiate lawsuits or seek legal representation.
...... Oh, why, did a hippopotamus call to complain about humans?
Of course not, no hippopotamus can speak human words for the time being.
The lawsuit was fought by animal protection groups to save the lives of the hippos.
First of all, it should be clear that hippos are African animals, and under normal circumstances, they do not appear in the wild in South America.
This batch of hippos in Colombia is an alternative legacy of the drug lord Pablo Escobar.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Escobar was the world's most powerful drug lord, controlling cocaine shipments from South America to North America, worth $25 billion.
When people have money, they like to spend it indiscriminately.
At its peak, Escobar built a 7,000-acre estate in Colombia with soccer fields, nightclubs, tennis courts, airports, bullrings, artificial lakes, and, a large zoo.
There are giraffes, camels, zebras, kangaroos, elephants and, of course, hippos, one male and three females, which Escobar loves very much.
For several years, under the zoo's management, the number of hippos did not change, but in 1993, the situation changed because Escobar died.
On the roof of the city of Medellín, the big drug lord was shot by the police at the right opportunity.
His estate was cordoned off and exotic animals were sent one by one or transferred to other zoos.
The four hippos remained because they were violent and difficult to catch, and because they were large and difficult to transport, the government ignored them.
The government thought that these four hippos would fend for themselves in the wild.
Unexpectedly, they sprinkled joy along the Magdalena River, and the more they lived, the more moist they became.
Colombia's year-round humid climate is particularly suitable for hippos, which are full of rivers, lakes, and abundant aquatic and grass resources, and you can't eat them all.
More importantly, without natural enemies such as lions and crocodiles, hippos sit back and relax, almost like living in paradise
Over the past 27 years, hippopotamus populations have grown rapidly, from 4 to more than 100, making it the largest hippopotamus population outside the African continent.
People call them "cocaine hippopotamuses", distinguishing them from ordinary hippos.
Like all invasive species, cocaine hippos cause a lot of damage to the local ecosystem.
As large herbivores, hippos produce large amounts of feces and methane every day, which can change the chemical composition of rivers, make fish and shrimp die of lack of oxygen, and allow algae to multiply.
Scientists have found that hippopotamus manure left in the Magdalena River has caused a rapid expansion of a deadly algae that has disrupted the ecological balance.
Hippos are huge in size and number, and they also pose a threat to more than 100 species of local animals.
Scientists estimate that at the current rate of growth, there will be more than 1,400 cocaine hippos by 2039, potentially replacing native animals such as the Antillean manatee.
In addition to endangering the ecology, the hippopotamus roaming everywhere also poses a threat to humans.
In Africa, hippos are considered one of the main culprits of rural security, killing more people each year than other African mammals.
Colombia's cocaine hippopotamus is just as violent, chasing people when they see them.
Last year, a Colombian cattle farmer accidentally spotted a hippopotamus while fetching water, and the hippotamus bit him in the leg, throwing him into the air, breaking his leg bones, buttocks and several ribs.
In order to reduce accidents, the government has set up many warning signs along the river, but accidents still occur from time to time.
In 2009, the Colombian government was considering killing hippos.
But over the years, they have been unable to do anything because the people do not want to kill at all.
As a strangely shaped exotic species, hippos are wholeheartedly loved by the locals, and the entire town culture is built around hippos.
On the streets, you can see hippo statues, hippopotamus posters, and hippo toys everywhere.
There are hippo shops selling hippo keychains, hippo T-shirts and hippo cakes.
Of course, the most popular is the Escobar Manor transformed into an amusement park, as soon as you walk in the door, you will see happy hippos beckoning, in the artificial lake dug by Escobar, there are still many hippos.
Hippopotamus is the source of happiness and wealth in the town, the amusement park alone can attract 50,000 tourists a year, coupled with the sale of cultural and entertainment products, Hippo IP makes people rich.
"Hippos are part of our community. It, like people, wants to live, so let them live! Some townspeople said.
Who would have thought that the special legacy of the big drug lord would actually feed this town.
Several government killings have been met with outcry from the public.
They compromised, culling is not OK, then sterilization.
In the past few years, the Colombian government has begun to try sterilization, but after actually doing it, it has found that the situation is far more difficult than expected.
First, they had to lure the hippopotamus into a cage, which alone would take three months.
After catching it, they have to confirm the sex of the hippopotamus. Hippos' genitals are inside, and veterinarians must spend three hours cutting through the hippopotamus's thick skin and exploring to find out if it's male or female.
If it is a male hippopotamus, the testicles can be removed, but if it is a female hippopotamus, no one knows how to operate.
David Lopez, who performed the sterilization operation, said they still didn't understand the female's reproductive structure and that no matter how the female hippopotamus was sterilized, it was unsuccessful.
Therefore, if it is found that it is a female hippopotamus after cutting, everything before it is in vain.
At this rate, they can only sterilize one hippopotamus a year.
The number of cocaine hippos is growing by 10% a year, but the rate of sterilization is so slow that the government mentioned a culling program.
This year, the Colombian government's culling program was strongly supported by environmentalists who believe it would be too late not to exterminate hippos.
But the people still disagreed, and this time, they found a lawyer to fight the lawsuit in place of Hippo.
In Colombia, the law recognizes the right of animals to sue, so hippos are the plaintiffs in this case, defending their right to life.
This is not unusual in Colombia, but it is interesting that the people inadvertently let the American courts also recognize the legal status of hippos.
That's because people are connected to the Animal Law Foundation in the United States.
The Foundation told them that culling was really unnecessary, and they recommended an animal contraceptive pill called PZP, which was used in many zoos and should also work for cocaine hippos.
But there is no basis for the words, they want to come up with evidence.
So the foundation approached two zoologists in Ohio and asked them to express their opinions on the drug for use in a Colombian court.
Under U.S. law, "interested parties" in foreign litigation cases can file an application with a U.S. court to help move the foreign case forward if they want U.S. testimony.
This time, the "stakeholder" who submitted the application was the hippopotamus, or, to be precise, the "hippopotamus community living in the Magdalena River."
Generally, an application made in the name of an animal cannot be approved in a U.S. court, but the other day, Judge Karen Litkovitz of the Ohio court approved the application.
This greatly excited the foundation and the American Animal Protection Agency, because the judge's approval was to recognize hippos as people in the same legal status.
This means that hippos are granted the same legal rights as humans, can be plaintiffs, and can fight lawsuits through legal representatives.
The Animal Law Foundation said it was the first time in U.S. history that a U.S. court granted animals the same legal status as humans and was "an important milestone in the animal protection movement."
They hope that affected by this case, more animals with threatened lives will be treated as "legal people" in the future, and more protection will be given.
The Colombian case is still pending, although the outcome is not known,
But most likely, this group of animals, which originally belonged to Africa, may still live on South American soil for a long time.
I don't know what the environment of the Columbia River will be like then.
I can only hope that the new animal contraceptive pill works...