"Cocaine Hippos"

“Cocaine Hippos” 

By: Tyler Belcher

At U.S. common law, animals are considered property and therefore do not have legally recognizable rights. However, only until recently have courts strayed from this position. In October 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio awarded legal personhood to some 100 descendants of hippos formerly owned by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.[1]

A man of extravagant living, Pablo Escobar had his own private zoo filled with elephants, rhinos, giraffes, and rare tropical birds among other exotic animals including four hippopotamuses which he illegally imported.[2]When Escobar was killed in 1993 by the Colombian National Police, zoos and private collectors acquired all of these animals except for Escobar’s hippos.[3]Because these hippos were too unwieldy and too dangerous to move, they were left dwelling in the Magdalena River and eventually escaped from Escobar’s compound.[4]Now over 100 descendants of these hippos threaten water quality and biodiversity in Colombia.[5]Considering that these hippos are difficult to move and their continued presence threatens the area's environment, a group of scientists is advocating for some of the animals to be killed also warning about the potential for deadly encounters with humans.[6]The Colombian government has started sterilizing some of the hippos, but the safest methods of doing so are still being debated.[7]Alternatively, the Colombian government has developed a plan to kill these hippos.[8]

On behalf of the “community of hippopotamuses living in the Magdalena River,” plaintiffs to a Colombian lawsuit challenging the plan, the Animal Legal Defense Fund  asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to give “interested persons” status to the hippos “so that two wildlife experts in sterilization from Ohio could be deposed in the case.”[9]In doing so, the attorneys for the ALDF “…pointed to a federal statute that allows anyone who is an ‘interested person’ in a foreign lawsuit to ask a federal court to permit them to take depositions in the U.S. in support of their case.”[10]The attorneys for ALDF argued that “…because advocates for the hippos can bring lawsuits to protect their interests in Colombia that the hippos should be allowed to be considered ‘interested persons’ under U.S. law.”[11]Ultimately, federal magistrate Judge Karen Litkovitz in Cincinnati granted the request.[12]

Subsequently, news outlets around the U.S. have published articles with headlines that the District Court’s ruling means that the “Cocaine Hippos” are now  “legally people” in the United States.[13]This is a half-truth at best. To many, without reading further, these headlines probably read as if the District Court declared, as certain animal rights advocates would have it, that these hippos are the legal equivalent of people in all matters. Although it is certainly a victory for animal rights advocates, this decision appears to be very narrow. Based on the available information, it would seem that the District Court’s decision granted “interested persons” status to these animals per 28 U.S.C. § 1782(a) strictly for acquiring information through depositions in the U.S. to be used in litigation before a foreign tribunal where the animals are recognized as “interested persons.” Specifically, this status was granted to permit the ALDF, on behalf of the hippos, to acquire information through depositions that is needed for litigation in Colombia over the fate of these hippos.

Here, it is not so much that the hippos are now fully “legally people” in the U.S., but really, the hippos were granted “interested persons” status with the limited aim of assisting foreign litigation. This status likely would not have been granted by the District Court if Colombia did not already recognize the hippos as “interested persons” since 28 U.S.C. § 1782(a) only permits “interested persons” to foreign litigation to apply for an order to produce information in support of that litigation. Overall, no new law was created in this case, but it was the first time that, although limited, animals have been declared legal persons in the U.S., sharing some form of rights with people and corporations.[14]However limited these rights are, this decision is certainly significant and an achievement for animal rights advocates. 

[1]Amy Cheng, Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ are legally people, U.S. court rules, Wash. Post(Oct. 26, 2021), https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/26/pablo-escobar-cocaine-hippos-colombia/.

[2]Peter Rowe, Chasing Colombia’s ‘cocaine hippos’, L.A. Times(Feb. 9, 2020), https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2020-02-09/uc-san-diego-biologist-colombia-cocaine-hippos-pablo-escobar.

[3]Rowe, supranote 2.

[4]Rowe, supra note 2.

[5]Rowe, supranote 2.

[6]John Seewer, US judge: Pablo Escobar’s cocaine hippos legally ‘people’, Associated Press(Oct. 25, 2021), https://apnews.com/article/hippos-animals-personhood-pablo-escobar-e89daf05efb37efd3d35e6dabce56726#:~:text=The%20%E2%80%9Ccocaine%20hippos%E2%80%9D%20are%20descendants,over%20the%20country's%20drug%20trade.   

[7]Seewer, supranote 6.

[8]Press Release, Animals Recognized as Legal Persons for the First Time in U.S. Court, Animal Legal Defense Fund (Oct. 20, 2021), https://aldf.org/article/animals-recognized-as-legal-persons-for-the-first-time-in-u-s-court/; Seewer, supranote 6.

[9]Animals Recognized as Legal Persons for the First Time in U.S. Court, supra note8; Seewer, supra note 6.

[10]Seewer, supra note 6; Though, not explicitly, Seewer is likely referring to 28 U.S.C.S. § 1782 which allows “interested persons” in foreign litigation to perform discovery in the United States.

[11]Seewer, supra note 6.

[12]Seewer, supra note 6.

[13]Cheng, supranote 1; Seewer, supranote 6.

[14]Seewer, supranote 6.