According to the Associated Press, Mexican prosecutors issued a statement on the 22nd saying that they seized a large number of exotic animals in a town controlled by drug cartels, including 10 tigers, 6 jaguars, 5 lions and other species. The United States previously broke the news that Mexico's largest drug cartel "Sinaloa" drug lords once kept tigers as pets, and even fed tigers alive as a means of executing prisoners.
Mexico captures 10 tigers and 5 lions in drug lord territory
According to Mexican prosecutors, the huge zoo is located in the western part of the country in the town of Labaca, Jalisco, which in the past was the site of executions by drug cartels and housed mass graves. In 2013, police dug up at least 65 bodies in a secret cemetery near the town of Labaka.
Mexican agents also found antelopes, llamas, deer and birds at the zoo, all kept in fences and cages. Typically, seized animals are sent to protected areas or private and public zoos to receive proper care.
A Mexican police officer stands guard outside the animal sanctuary (Mexican newspaper Diario)
Although it is not clear who owns the zoo and the intentions of keeping the animals, it is clearly illegal.
The Associated Press described Mexican drug lords' fascination with exotic animals as long known. In 2022, 11 drug trafficker gunmen were killed in a shootout between Mexican police and drug cartels. Photos from the scene showed a small monkey wearing a small camouflage jacket and a "bulletproof" vest stretched out on all fours and lying on the body of its owner.
Mexican drug lord Guzman, nicknamed "Shorty," was arrested in 2016, after which his sons began fighting for control of the cartels (AP)
Notably, just a week ago, U.S. prosecutors revealed gruesome details about how Mexican drug lords used tigers.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York unveiled an indictment against two sons of Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, nicknamed "Shorty." The brothers kept the tigers as pets, and while many of the victims died at gunpoint, others were "fed alive to their tigers," the document said.
The New York Post quoted sources on April 19 as saying that the violence perpetrated by the Guzman family was "horrific" and that "there seems to be nothing that can be done to stop it."
Once the victims they capture are useless, they are quickly disposed of. In addition to waterboarding and electric shocks, the dead who were shot were considered "lucky", and the unfortunate ones were fed tigers raised by the Guzmán brothers. Separately, a Mexican federal law enforcement officer was arrested and tortured, and drug dealers tore open his muscles with a bottle opener, then "filled his wounds and nose with piping hot peppers" before being shot by drug dealers.
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