NARRATOR: Alien hippos are invading Colombia.
They're here because of notorious narco trafficker
Pablo Escobar.
The kingpin's pet hippos escaped from his ranch
and have gone rogue.
Wildlife vet Dr. Gina Serna has been tasked by the government
to find another way to control the booming hippo population
before someone gets killed.
GINA SERNA: You cannot trust hippos.
Look the teeth.
They fight, and they hurt each other a lot,
so imagine what they can do to a human.
[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC]
NARRATOR: To help Gina on her mission
to contain Escobar's hippos, she's called in the services
of Chris Hopkirk.
He's a South African big game capture expert
skilled in relocating large and dangerous African animals,
including hippos.
[GROWLING]
Gina brings Chris to Hacienda Napoles, the epicenter
of Colombia's hippo problem.
At the entrance of the former drug lord's ranch,
a huge hippo statue marks his bizarre legacy.
CHRIS HOPKIRK: Can I be 100% honest here?
It is literally the ugliest form,
shape, and color of a hippo I've ever seen in my life.
NARRATOR: Today in the artificial lakes
of Hacienda Napoles, 30 or more hippos flourish.
Water is their lifeblood, and as Colombia
is blessed with high annual rainfall,
this place is like a hippo heaven.
Hippos are most active at night.
In Africa, they emerge from water at dusk
and can travel long distances to gorge on grass.
Chris and Gina decide to set up a series
of motion capture cameras within an 8-mile radius
of Hacienda Napoles.
The cameras will help them determine how far the hippos
are roaming away from Napoles.
If they're spreading far and wide,
the population could prove very difficult to control.
48 hours have passed since Chris and Gina set
the motion capture cameras, and they're
eager to review the footage.
They make use of an abandoned shack just outside the boundary
of Hacienda Napoles.
CHRIS HOPKIRK: Right.
Let's see what we've got.
[GASPING]
GINA SERNA: Look.
NARRATOR: These images were recorded a mile from the park.
Chris and Gina are shocked by the number
of hippos in the frame.
CHRIS HOPKIRK: So out of the estimated about 50
hippo that we have at Napoles, in the lake--
GINA SERNA: Oh my god.
CHRIS HOPKIRK: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
GINA SERNA: Oh my god, there's so much.
CHRIS HOPKIRK: Eight. GINA SERNA: Eight.
Oh my god.
NARRATOR: The footage confirms that every night, hippos are
routinely venturing well beyond the perimeter of the park
to graze.
And the cameras reveal they're traveling
considerable distances.
CHRIS HOPKIRK: And that one's about 10 kilometers away from
the dam or the lake at Napoles.
GINA SERNA: Mm-hmm.
CHRIS HOPKIRK: And the little baby went with.
GINA SERNA: Yes.
NARRATOR: The big concern is that some hippos might not
be returning to Hacienda Napoles,
choosing instead to set up new territories
in the wilds of Colombia.