Former Director of Southern Zoo Mexico Authorities claim they killed four of the zoo’s pygmy goats and served them at a Christmas season party.
“These four animals [were] It was slaughtered on the premises of the zoo, cooked and served as a year-end meal,” said Fernando Luis Gutierrez, director of wildlife at the State Department of Environment, according to the zoo’s director at the time, Jose Rubén Nava. “The health of those who ate them was endangered because these animals were unsuitable for human consumption.”
Ruben Nava was replaced as director after a deer died at the local zoo in Chilpancingo city on January 12. But officials said on Tuesday that an investigation had found that some animals at the zoo had been sold, traded or eaten on Nava’s orders.
The state’s Department of Environment said deer and Watusi cattle were also traded to individuals without proper accounting.
Nava is also said to have traded the zebra for some tools needed to repair things around the zoo, but inspections found no such tools at the facility.
It is not clear if Nava was formally charged in the case or had an attorney.
Mexico has a long-standing problem of illegal acquisition of non-native animals by civilians. For years Mexican drug traffickers have been known to build private menageries of lions, tigers and other wild animals. They sometimes run away and sow panic.
In the central city of Aguascalientes, state police said a rampaging lion attacked and seriously injured a woman on the patio of her home. The lion seems to have escaped from a nearby house. The woman was hospitalized with injuries to her leg, skull and lungs.
The lion also attacked two dogs and a cat. It was caught on Tuesday and sent to the local zoo.
