Lion cub seized at Mexico airport
In Mexico, the confiscation of protected species has been related, in many cases, to drug lords' taste for exotic animals.
A cub African lion, endangered species, was seized at the International Airport of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, northern Mexico, by agents of the National Guard (GN), reported Saturday the institution.
In a statement, the GN reported that when reviewing the parcel that enters the airport, the agents located in the commercial platform area "a wooden box with circular ventilation holes, where an African lion cub was being transported."
The transport box came from Mexico City, where it registered a connecting flight, but the original departure was the city of Guadalajara bound for Ciudad Juárez.
The agents reviewed the documentation that was attached to the top of the box, "but it lacked the original invoice so it did not protect the legal origin of the lion cub," the note said.
Faced with such evidence, the agents requested the presence of personnel from the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) to protect the specimen considered an endangered species and protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
In addition, the inspectors determined through scanner readers that the lion cub lacked the identification microchip that would prove the legal origin of the species.
Due to this, the animal was under the protection of Profepa and was transferred to the San Jorge Zoo for its medical examination, care and stay, because these facilities are adequate for the feline.
After the events, the GN notified the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic to continue with the corresponding investigations.
Mexico is considered one of the five countries with the most biodiversity in the world, concentrating between 10% and 12% of the planet's biological species, according to the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (Conabio) of the Mexican Government.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has warned that illegal animal trafficking is the third most profitable black market, only behind drug and arms trafficking.
In Mexico, the confiscation of protected species has been related, in many cases, to drug lords' taste for exotic animals.
In a statement, the GN reported that when reviewing the parcel that enters the airport, the agents located in the commercial platform area "a wooden box with circular ventilation holes, where an African lion cub was being transported."
The transport box came from Mexico City, where it registered a connecting flight, but the original departure was the city of Guadalajara bound for Ciudad Juárez.
The agents reviewed the documentation that was attached to the top of the box, "but it lacked the original invoice so it did not protect the legal origin of the lion cub," the note said.
Faced with such evidence, the agents requested the presence of personnel from the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) to protect the specimen considered an endangered species and protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
In addition, the inspectors determined through scanner readers that the lion cub lacked the identification microchip that would prove the legal origin of the species.
Due to this, the animal was under the protection of Profepa and was transferred to the San Jorge Zoo for its medical examination, care and stay, because these facilities are adequate for the feline.
After the events, the GN notified the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic to continue with the corresponding investigations.
Mexico is considered one of the five countries with the most biodiversity in the world, concentrating between 10% and 12% of the planet's biological species, according to the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (Conabio) of the Mexican Government.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has warned that illegal animal trafficking is the third most profitable black market, only behind drug and arms trafficking.
In Mexico, the confiscation of protected species has been related, in many cases, to drug lords' taste for exotic animals.
