Mexico zoo director is fired after ‘killing and cooking four pygmy goats for Christmas-season party’
Mexico zoo director is fired after he ‘killed and cooked four pygmy goats for Christmas-season banquet’ – and sold off a zebra in exchange for tools
- Four pygmy goats were slaughtered at a zoo in Chilpancingo, Mexico, and cooked on-site for a holiday party in December
- Zoochilpan Zoo director José Nava denied the accusation and said the goats thats were consumed were not from the facility
- He is also accused of selling several animals, including four of the zoo’s Watusi cows for 65,000 pesos (about $3,480), failing to report the sale
The former director of a zoo in western Mexico state of Guerrero has been accused of killing and cooking four pygmy goats for a holiday dinner in December
José Nava ordered the small goats slaughtered for a bbq party around Christmas Zoochilpan Zoo in Chilpancingo, Wild Life Department director Fernando Ruiz revealed Wednesday.
‘This put the health of the people who ate them at risk, because these animals were not fit for human consumption,’ Ruiz said.
In response to the accusations, Nava held court with local reporters and said that ‘the fact that we ate some goats does not mean that it was the ones from the zoo. That’s totally false.’
José Nava, the former director of a zoo in Guerrero, Mexico, reportedly killed four pygmy goats at the facility for a holiday bbq party in December at the zoo. He was fired in January after the death of a deer
An investigation by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and the Wild Life Department in the state of Guerrero revealed that animals were sold or traded without permission by the Zoochilpan Zoo director
Nava was fired from his zoo post January 12 after a deer was found dead there.
Investigators said that he failed to get proper care for the sick deer and provided the animal anti-inflammatory drug before it died.
As part of an investigation following the deer’s death, the Wild Life Department found that a zebra was traded for tools. However, inspectors were unable to locate any tools at the zoo.
The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources said that in December, Nava sold four Watusi cows to Juan Jiménez for 65,000 pesos (about $3,480), but the money was never reported to the zoo.
In January, he traded a zebra to René Trujillo for an unknown number of deers, which are not at the zoo and whose whereabouts have not been revealed.
Nava also sold nine Barbary sheep for 54,000 pesos (approximately $2,900) and altered the information on the invoice. He only reported 6,500 pesos (around $348) which he said was used to purchase a printer.
Investigators also said that a macaw, a jaguar and 10 snakes were also missing from the zoo.
Fernando Ruiz, the director of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in Guerrero, Mexico, revealed Wednesday that four pygmy goats were slaughtered at the Zoochilpan Zoo under orders of the facility’s former director in December for a holiday bbq party
At least nine Barbary sheep were sold for 54,000 pesos (approximately $2,900) by Nava, who altered the information on the invoice. He only reported 6,500 pesos (around $348) which was used to buy a printer for the zoo office
Four of the zoo’s Watusi cows were sold for 65,000 pesos (about $3,480), but the money was never reported to the zoo
Nava swapped the zebras for tools that were required to make repairs at the zoo. However, inspectors were unable to locate any tools at the zoo.
Mexico has long had a problem with private citizens illegally acquiring exotic animals. For years, drug traffickers in Mexico have been known to build private menageries of lions, tigers and other wild animals. They sometimes escape, sowing panic.
In the central city of Aguascalientes, state police said a loose lion attacked and seriously injured a woman on the patio of her home. The lion apparently escaped from a nearby home. The woman was hospitalized with injuries to her legs, skull and a lung.
The lion also attacked two dogs and a cat. It was captured Tuesday and sent to a local zoo.
