OTUMBA, Mexico — As a tiny cub four years
ago, Frida the Bengal tiger was found chained up in a restaurant parking lot in
Mexico City, dirty, emaciated and unable to walk.
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Rescued and rehabilitated, she is now a popular
attraction at the Reino Animal (Animal Kingdom) park along with hundreds of
other exotic creatures taken from misguided Mexican “pet” owners — including
showy drug traffickers.
Far from the Asian forests where she belongs, Frida
has made a full recovery and “no longer suffers,” said park employee Agustin
Bastida as the tigress gave a big yawn.
Lying on a grassy patch she looked disinterestedly
at the humans ogling her from the other side of a fence.
Frida is one of six big cats among 1,100 animals —
40 percent of them rescued exotic creatures — at the park in Otumba, northeast
of the Mexican capital.
Fellow residents include zebras, giraffes, wolves,
and a variety of birds.
According to authorities, some 150 to 200 exotic
animals are seized in Mexico City every year, often after reports from
neighbors.
Some of the worst culprits are drug lords such as
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who had a pet monkey called “Boots.”
In one major rescue in 2007, officials busting a
“narco-mansion” found two jaguars, two tigers, two lions and a macaque,
according to Lucio Garcia Gil, head of the PROFEPA environmental crimes office
for Mexico City.
“There are many exotic birds, such as macaws or parrots,
reptiles, many primates and big cats; it is what we have most detected that
people have,” he told AFP.
Two big cats were rescued in the megacity in 2021
and four — including a lion cub — so far this year.
According to Gil, a tiger or lion sells for between
$1,000 and $5,000 on the Mexican black market.
Mexican law allows people to legally purchase exotic
animals from registered dealers “as long as they keep them safe and provide the
appropriate protection,” he told AFP.
“Unfortunately... hardly anybody complies with the
conditions,” he said.
Illegal possession is punishable by up to nine years
in prison or a fine of up to $15,000, though Gil said he could not remember
anyone ever going to jail.
Keeping a big cat is expensive — they can eat as
much as 30kg of meat per day, and many private owners abandon the animals in
the end.
Like lions or jaguars, Bengals — which grow to stand
over a meter tall and can weigh as much as 260kg — are not easy
housemates and
many have their fangs and claws removed so that they do not destroy their
surroundings, or owners.
‘They are not pets’
According to the
UN Environment Program, global wildlife trafficking generates as much as $23
billion per year.
It is the seventh-most lucrative illicit business,
according to the Washington-based Global Financial Integrity.
In Mexico City, the lucky trafficked animals that do
get rescued are taken to zoos and parks such as the 53-hectare (130-acre)
Animal Kingdom northeast of the capital.
In Frida’s case, she was brought in with a broken
hip, which has since completely healed.
“She could not walk, it was very sad, very sad,”
said Bastida.
“People buy these animals to keep them as pets, but
they are not pets,” he added.
“They have to be in the wild or in open spaces where the
conditions are adequate for a good quality of life.”
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