In the mere four months that Carlos Costa has been the Minister of the Environment, Housing and Territorial Development, he has made a series of decisions that prove that he has absolutely no interest in being a steward of the unique natural treasure of biodiversity that is Colombia.
Instead, Minister Costa has ignored our nation's wildlife laws and filed senseless lawsuits to pursue his anti-wildlife agenda. Costa's increasingly extreme anti-wildlife management policies have included the order to shoot a hippopotamus posed no danger to anyone. A hippopotamus family - mother, father and baby %u2013 escaped from a zoo in Puerto Triunfo, Colombia and took up peaceful residence in the countryside among peasant farmers more than two years ago. As the neighboring farmers have testified, the hippos never caused any damage or injury and posed absolutely no threat to anyone. Contrary to all reason and compassion, Minister Costa and Corantioquia, the regional environmental authority, ordered the killing of the father hippo on the baseless contention that he posed a threat to humans and other animals. Now, Costa has approved the hunting of the mother hippo. This is latest in a string of anti-wildlife efforts with which Costa has shown his blatant disregard for both conservation and environmental laws.
In his short tenure, Costa has proven to be a threat to the natural integrity of Colombia, a country recognized for its national wildlife refuges, forests, parks, and incomparable diversity.
Costa must now decide whether to continue building his devastating and destructive wildlife legacy even further, or whether he intends to chart a new path by removing politics from wildlife management and restoring science to the decision-making process.
