Forrest Galante: The Wildlife Biologist Taking on Pablo Escobar's Hippos

This week on Mostly Occasionally, I catch up with wildlife biologist, TV host, and certified madman Forrest Galante. 

You might know Forrest Galante from his many Discovery Channel and Animal Planet shows, starting with Naked and Afraid back in 2013, where people survive in the jungle with no clothes. Since then, he’s built a career chasing lost species, hosting Extinct or Alive, and turning the public eye toward wildlife conservation in a way that’s actually effective. He’s really damn good at it and has the scars and stories to prove it. 

He just got back from Colombia, where he’s been working hands-on with the government to tackle one of the strangest ecological disasters on Earth: Pablo Escobar’s hippos. What started as a drug kingpin’s exotic pets has exploded into an invasive species crisis, with hundreds of massive, unpredictable animals wreaking havoc on the local ecosystem and neighboring communities.

We get into:

• The surreal reality of the “cocaine hippos” (yes, that’s a real thing)
• Why it’s not as simple as just shooting them (though Forrest says… maybe it should be?)
• The process of catching, chemically castrating, and relocating 4-ton animals
• Why his production company is literally financing conservation work
• And what the U.S. could learn from Colombia when it comes to wildlife management

Hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did! 

Thanks for listening and subscribing to Mostly Occasionally.

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