WATCH | Colombia hopes to fly drug lord Escobar's 150 'out of control' hippos to Mexico and India

Anibal Gaviria, governor of Antioquia Department in northwestern Colombia, where a herd of some 150 hippos - descendants of animals once owned by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar - are breeding out of control says he hopes for the greenlight to send half of them to sanctuaries in India and Mexico.

A small herd of hippos arrived in Colombia in the late 1980s, brought in by the fabulously wealthy cocaine lord Escobar.

After his death in 1993, the animals were left to roam freely and populated the region of Magdalena Medio, a hot savanna criss-crossed by rivers, marshes and swamps where food for hippos is abundant.

Gaviria wants to transfer 70 of the herd - declared invasive by the government a year ago - to sanctuaries in India and Mexico.

The growth of the hippopotamus population "is a complex situation for the inhabitants" of Magdalena Medio, some of whom have been threatened by the animal