Bloody toll of Mexican criminals’ fixation on exotic pets | AP International

MEXICO Town (AP) — Mexican narcos’ fascination with unique animals was on show this 7 days just after a spider monkey dressed up as a drug gang mascot was killed in a shootout, a 450-pound (200 kilogram) tiger wandered the streets in the Pacific coast condition of Nayarit, and a man died right after making an attempt to pet a captive tiger in a cartel-dominated region of western Michoacan condition.

Like scenes out of a narco television sequence, exotic animals have been long been aspect of the Mexican criminal underworld.

Pics from the scene of a shootout Tuesday with law enforcement in which 11 drug gang customers died, showed a compact monkey — dressed in a very small camouflage jacket and a tiny “bullet-proof” vest — sprawled across the physique of a useless gunman who was apparently his proprietor.

Authorities in the Point out of Mexico confirmed the authenticity of the photographs, and stated it was unclear regardless of whether the monkey — which was also donning a diaper — died in the hail of bullets that killed his proprietor.

“A primate was killed at the scene, which was presumably owned by a prison who was also killed at the scene,” condition prosecutors claimed in a statement, introducing “An autopsy will be carried out on the animal by a veterinarian specialized in the species” and animal-trafficking prices would be considered towards the suspects who survived the shootout.

Then on Wednesday, the Legal professional General for Environmental Protection claimed it had seized a tiger in Tecuala, in the Pacific coastline condition of Nayarit, in the vicinity of the border with Sinaloa, which is household to the cartel of the identical name.

The business office reported it acted “after acquiring reviews about a Bengal tiger that was wandering the streets of Tecuala,” and discovered that the animal was getting illegally kept there.

Individuals reports were being dependent on a online video posted on social media earlier this 7 days, exhibiting a young girl shrieking as she came throughout the tiger on the road in a residential neighborhood. “Be silent, it may come close,” a woman can be read saying on the movie.

Authorities mentioned the tiger’s claws and fangs experienced been taken out, and a person can be found afterwards in the online video casually tossing a rope above the tiger’s neck and primary him absent.

Possibly the most tragic story arrived out of the western point out of Michoacan, which has prolonged been dominated by the Carteles Unidos gang and the Jalisco cartel.

On Sunday, authorities confirmed that a man was seriously wounded by a tiger in Periban, Michoacan, a town in the state’s avocado-rising location, wherever gangs have lengthy extorted safety payments from the worthwhile avocado trade.

In a video posted on social media, whose authenticity could not be verified, the gentleman is witnessed calling the tiger to the side of a fenced enclosure. “Come on, occur,” the man can be read entreating.

The man stands outdoors the enclosure, apparently feeding the tiger with 1 hand, though he stretches his other arm as a result of the chain-backlink fence to stroke the animal’s neck.

The gentleman then shrieks in pain immediately after the tiger swiftly wheels and bites the prolonged arm and refuses to let go. Inevitably the tiger mauled the two the man’s arms.

Michoacan point out law enforcement authorities verified that the male was taken to a healthcare facility, in which he died a number of days afterwards from his accidents.

Mexican legislation makes it possible for non-public citizens to continue to keep unique animals if they sign-up them below strictly supervised ailments. But Safety analyst David Saucedo mentioned criminals sometimes go to the size of obtaining this sort of permits.

Saucedo mentioned drug traffickers frequently hold exotic animals as a symbol of position and electricity, imitating the Colombian drug lords of the 1980s and 90s.

“Mexican drug traffickers copied from the narcos of the Medellin cartel the customized of attaining exotic animals and setting up non-public zoos,” explained Saucedo. “According to the code of the drug trafficking aristocracy, owning a private zoo was a prerequisite for staying component of the circle of significant-time drug traffickers.”

In some conditions, the animals experienced a additional sinister use.

“Some drug cartel capos, like Zetas leader Heriberto Lazcano, obtained exotic animals to torture or disappear their victims,” Saucedo explained. “Several of his enemies were devoured by the tigers or the crocodiles that the Zetas retained in their pens or cages.”

Lazcano himself was killed in a shootout with Mexican armed service staff in 2012.

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