Escobar’s Hippos Test Limits of When Animals Are Legally People

When Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was killed in 1993, he left officials with a unique problem that grows to nearly 4,000 pounds, claims hundreds of lives annually in its natural habitat, and has grabbed international attention after an Ohio federal court issued a ruling that animal activists still celebrate.

Escobar’s four hippopotamuses multiplied at his unattended estate, Hacienda Nápoles, located about 60 miles east of Medellín, Colombia. The hippos spread out and found a home in the nearby Magdalena River, and they now number nearly 100 with no clear obstacles in their path.

Colombian officials are trying to figure ...