
Pablo Escobar’s hippos: A growing problem (2014) - MorningInfidel
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27905743
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syllogism
Reading this as an Australian, where managing invasive species is a multi-
million dollar problem, this is just...extraordinary.

> "It's just like this crazy wildlife experiment that we're left with," says
> San Diego University ecologist Rebecca Lewison. "Gosh! I hope this goes
> well."

You...hope this goes well? How about you shoot them all, while there's still a
countable number of them? It's not like there's a conservation question here.
There's almost no genetic diversity in the herd, and hippos aren't threatened
in Africa.

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fit2rule
The difference is that in Australia you don't have whole towns worth of people
coming out to protect their cute, floppy animals .. with guns and machetes.
So, there's that.

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stevendaniels
Reminds me of another Hippo story, the U.S. Hippo Bill that was proposed to
farm Hippos. [http://www.wired.com/2013/12/hippopotamus-
ranching/](http://www.wired.com/2013/12/hippopotamus-ranching/)

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jessaustin
This points to the forms that truly effective terrorism will take in future.
Why bomb a few places in your target country, when instead you could just
plant a few hundred genetically-engineered Tyrannosaurus eggs? Mayhem for
years! Way to make your mark Pablo!

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getsat
You can also just release a few rabbits. They breed pretty quickly [1] and
will destroy local ecosystems. See: Australia.

(Also, happy Straya Day)

[1]
[http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/scary.html](http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/scary.html)

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MorningInfidel
Thought this would be an interesting thought experiment for engineering the
best solution to the problem. I guess since Colombia isn't that rich it would
have to be feasible economically, too.

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CmonDev
He put a ding in the universe.

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eip
Two words: Hippo Bacon

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discardorama
FTA: _Valderrama doesn 't recommend eating the meat, in case it is infected
with a transmittable disease - one dead hippo was found to be carrying
leptospirosis which can cause meningitis_

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brudgers
As a former Tampa Bay Mutiney fan, no bacon just piles disappointment upon
disappointment. This story would be hippos in World Cup wigs cooler if _the_
Carlos "Still the best player ever to play in the MLS" Valderramma had, in
post footballing retirement, become a veterinarian managing Escobar's legacy.

