Campaign Saves Escobar`s Hippo

Colombia's government calls off the hunt for a hippo on the run from the estate of dead drug lord Pablo Escobar.

A herd of hippos is still living the high life on the ranch of Colombian cocaine king Pablo Escobar some 16 years after his death.

But a public outcry has ignited over the hunt by authorities for a couple who've been on the run since 2006.

Television pictures aired last week showed the body of Pepe, shot by authorities in much the same way that Escobar was disposed of as a danger to the public.

Animal rights campaigners have been battling to lift what they said was a death sentence on his surviving mate, Matilda.

SOUNDBITE: Clara Ramirez, animal rights activist, saying (Spanish):

"Killing them is not the solution. Killing any living creature is never the solution because the hippos were brought into the country somehow and the environment ministry must know how. The hippos have been living in that area for a very long time and nobody cared for them and now they can't handle the problem they want to solve it by killing them."

Pablo Escobar flaunted the wealth of his drugs operation by importing hundreds of exotic species.

The hippos which escaped set up home in the wild beside the Magdalena River in the north where they produced a calf.

The Environment Ministry insists its original decision to shoot the renegades wasn't hippo-critical.

SOUNDBITE: Luis Alfonso Escobar, Environment Ministry, saying (Spanish):

"The environment authorities are responsible for public safety and that is key for us. We decided the animals had to be sacrificed only after two and half years of intensive work to guarantee their survival so it was our last alternative. We're willing to spare them if we can find an effective solution."

Salvation for Matilda and her calf appears to have come from a Bogota-based brewery.

Bavaria's offer to bring in wildlife experts to help out has been accepted by the government

Paul Chapman, Reuters