Monsalve Buriticá, Santiago2014-10-172014-10-172014-10-171794-4449http://hdl.handle.net/10567/1170In 1985 drug dealer Pablo Escobar imported a number between two and five individuals of the hippopotamus species that, after two decades, have mated and moved throughout the Magdalena Medio zone. Nowadays, a number between ten and thirty of these animals can be living free near the Magdalena river, and about sixty can be living in the country. Hippopotamus in Colombia are exotic and imported animals and, as time passes, they will become invaders, given the fact they can bring environmental risks by competing against native species. Some of the possible effects of the introduction of these animals are the habitat alteration, disruption of the ecosystem processes and destabilization of environmental systems. The measures to control them –which require high budgets for capture, a birth control, captivity or euthanasia-, must be established immediately, as native biologic, hydro biologic and fishery resources could disappear because of this invasive species.esCorporación Universitaria LasallistaInstitución Universitaria Colegio Mayor de AntioquiaUniversidad Pontificia BolivarianaHippopotamus amphibiusEspecie invasoraEutanasiaCastraciónBioéticaResume