Ciudad Juarez, Mexico — After a marketing campaign by environmentalists, Benito the giraffe left Mexico’s northern border and its excessive climate circumstances Sunday evening and headed for a conservation park in central Mexico, the place the local weather is extra akin to his pure habitat and already dwelling to different giraffes.
Environmental teams had voiced sturdy complaints about circumstances confronted by Benito on the city-run Central Park zoo in Ciudad Juarez, throughout from El Paso, Texas, the place climate in the summertime is brutally sizzling and temperatures plunge throughout the winter.
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A crane rigorously lifted a container holding the giraffe onto a truck whereas metropolis dwellers in love with the animal mentioned a bittersweet goodbye. Some activists shouted, “We love you, Benito.”
“We’re a little bit unhappy that he is leaving. Nevertheless it additionally offers us nice pleasure. … The climate circumstances should not appropriate for him,” mentioned Flor Ortega, a 23-year-old who mentioned she had spent her complete life visiting Modesto the giraffe, which was on the zoo for twenty years earlier than dying in 2022, after which Benito, which arrived final Could.
The switch could not have come at a greater time, simply when a brand new chilly entrance was about to hit the world.
Benito was heading on a journey of 1,200 miles and about 50 hours on the highway to his new dwelling, the African Safari park within the state of Puebla. Guests journey via the park in all-terrain autos to look at animals as in the event that they had been on safari.
Christian Chavez / AP
The container, greater than 16-and-a-half ft excessive, was specifically designed for Benito, and the giraffe was allowed to develop into accustomed to it throughout the weekend, mentioned Frank Carlos Camacho, the director of the park.
The animal’s head sticks up via the highest of the massive wood and steel field, however a body permits a tarp to cowl over Benito and insulate him from the chilly, wind and rain in addition to from noise and the sight of panorama rushing by.
“The giraffe has big, big eyes and good points peak to have the ability to search for predators within the savannah and we’ve to inhibit that in order that it doesn’t have any supply of stress,” Camacho mentioned in a video posted on social media.
Contained in the container are straw, alfalfa, water and greens, and digital tools will monitor the temperature and even allow technicians to speak to the animal.
Outdoors, Benito will likely be guarded by a convoy of autos with officers from the Federal Lawyer for Environmental Safety and the Nationwide Guard.
“He will be calm, he’ll journey tremendous nicely. We have carried out this many instances,” Camacho mentioned.