People walk past the entrance of the Zulia's Metropolitan Zoological
Park in Maracaibo, as police investigate the recent animal thefts
Theories: Zoo officials at Zulia's Metropolitan Zoological Park
believe local drug gangs are to blame for the thefts, claiming
they sell animals and animal parts on the black market
As the country struggles with chronic
food shortages
- Animals of ten different species stolen from zoological
- park in Venezuela
- These include thefts of tapirs, buffalos and wild boar-like
- peccaries
- Authorities believe they are being taken from the park
- to be eaten
- Collapse of Venezuela's economy and wellfare has
- left population starving
Zoo animals are being stolen from parks in western Venezuela and
police believe they are being snatched to be eaten by the starving
local population.
A wave of animal thefts in city of Maracaibo near the Colombian border -
including tapirs and a buffalo - have been linked to the chronic food
shortages in Venezuela
Most recently, two collared peccaries, similar in appearance to
boars, were stolen over the weekend, local police say.
Dinner: Animals of ten species, including collared peccaries, tapirs
(pictured) and a buffalo, have been stolen from the Zulia Metropolitan
Zoological Park in Maracaibo
The head of the Zulia Metropolitan Zoological Park in Maricabo
said thefts in recent weeks had affected ten species.
'What we presume is that they (were taken) with the intention of eating
them,' Luis Morales, an official for the Zulia division of the National
Police, told reporters on Tuesday.
The chaotic collapse of the country's socialist economic model has
created chronic food shortages that have fuelled malnutrition and
left millions seeking food anywhere they can find it, including
in trash cans and dumpsters.
President Nicolas Maduro blames food shortages on opposition
protests that have blocked streets and highways and a broader
'economic war' led by adversaries with the help of Washington.
Taken: The most recent thefts involved two collared peccaries,
a local boar-like animal
Filling the freezer: A camel and a llama are seen at the Zulia's
Metropolitan Zoological Park, which local police believe is
being targeted by animal thieves desperate for food
People walk past the entrance of the Zulia's Metropolitan Zoological
Park in Maracaibo, as police investigate the recent animal thefts
Theories: Zoo officials at Zulia's Metropolitan Zoological Park
believe local drug gangs are to blame for the thefts, claiming
they sell animals and animal parts on the black market
Leonardo Nunez, head of the Zulia Metropolitan Zoological Park,
blamed 'drug dealers' for the thefts, saying they are selling them
on the black market.
'They take everything here! The animals weren't stolen to be eaten,'
Nunez said in an interview on Wednesday.
Mauricio Castillo, a former zoo director, said thieves had made
off with two tapirs, a pig-like animal that is described as 'vulnerable to
extinction' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Shortages have also left zoos without sufficient food to feed animals,
with some 50 animals starving to death last year at a Caracas zoos,
according to a union leader.
The government denied the animals had starved, insisting
they had been treated 'like family.'
(The Mail, UK)
No comments:
Post a Comment