It all started after the death of a deer at Chilpancingo Zoo in Guerrero. On January 14, Maximino Organista, a resident of the Jardines Zinnia subdivision, posted on his Facebook profile that he had found an injured deer near his home. Some dogs had bitten the animal and injured a leg. The man protected the deer at home and called the authorities, who took it to the Zoochilpan zoo for treatment. The animal died days later and various animal associations reported the place to abuse. However, what seemed like an isolated case has uncovered a whole network of director corruption, with animals being sold, trafficked illegally and sacrificed for human consumption.
The environmental authorities have made public that four of the 10 pygmy goats that exist in the park were sacrificed and cooked in the zoo’s own facilities for the New Year’s Eve dinner, by order of director José Rubén Nava Noriega, who was on site a few months in office. The director was removed from office and faces health crimes, wildlife trafficking and animal cruelty charges. “This fact puts the health of consumers at risk because they were not animals fit for human consumption,” said Guerrero (Semaren) Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Ángel Almazán Juárez.
The Environment Minister has pointed out that irregularities detected include the exchange of other species and the presentation of apocryphal accounts from a family company from Nava to justify the cash transfers. The director negotiated the delivery of four Watusis bulls to an individual in the state of Mexico in exchange for tools and supplies. However, Almazán assures that neither the materials nor the tools appearing in the transaction document signed on December 8 were found at the facilities. The irregularities also include the exchange of a zebra worth about 80,000 pesos to another person in Querétaro for three red deer worth 15,000 pesos each. Authorities point out that Zoochilpan management has not informed Semaren, the Ministry of the Environment (Semarnat) or the Environmental Protection Agency (Profepa) about these exchanges, in accordance with the provisions of animal welfare protocols for zoos across the country. Currently the zoo has 520 specimens of 89 different species.
Almazán Juárez also pointed out that there had been several unregistered births and false deaths during Nava Noriega’s time as head of Zoochilpan. So far, the whereabouts of at least 14 species remain unknown, including a jaguarundi – a small cat -, a coyote, 10 reptiles, a baby macaw and a red-tailed hawk. Regarding the deer rescued and brought to the zoo in mid-January, authorities reported that it was not cared for “properly” and ended up dying. “His leg was stitched up without anesthetic and his antlers were cut off,” they pointed out at the conference. The Chilpancingo Zoo scandal reveals the lack of control federal and state agencies have over these types of private enclosures, which are scattered across the country.
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