3/3/2022

Colombian Hippo Project Update

 

Animal Balance, the USDA and CORNARE (the river authority in charge of the Colombian hippos) met today to discuss the possibility of working together to unite the scientists and researchers that are interested in creating a non-lethal solution for controlling the Colombian Hippo population. (https://www.animalbalance.org/hippos)

 

The USDA has created a hippo specific GnRH vaccine (long-acting vaccine to prevent reproduction). This is cutting edge technology. It is an injection for both male and female hippos and appears to be working thus far.

 

Animal Balance created an international hippo advisory board and has offered to work together as partners to find out if another vaccine called PZP22, which is for females, might aid in effectively preventing births in the hippo population that live in the Magdalena River Basin.

 

Both the USDA and Animal Balance are presenting at the Botstiber Wildlife Non-Surgical Conference at the end of May. We have invited David Echeverri, CORNARE biologist responsible for the hippos, which operates under the Colombian Environment Ministry, to attend the conference. This conference is the 'showcase' of non-surgical wildlife fertility products available on the planet.

 

Essentially this means that animal populations can be controlled through a vaccine, not by shooting. Lethal methods do not work because you are back to the same problem in a very short time, as the vacuum created by killing causes the remaining animals to increase their birth rate. Stopping breeding in a humane way, that causes no harm to the animal, is the perfect solution for ANIMAL BALANCE.