Zoo island story11/21/2022 ![]() The Joya Grande zoo was founded just over 10 years ago by Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, one of the leaders of Los Cachiros, a group that dominated cocaine trafficking in northern Honduras until 2013, when it was dismantled by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). So how did the jaguar, butterfly spot and all, end up back in LFK a year later when the zoo had not made any progress in complying with animal care regulations? The jaguar was therefore moved to a zoo on Honduras' mainland at Joya Grande, an area heavily associated with drug trafficking. For example, Zimba was offered to another zoo on the far east of Roatán island, at the small key of Barbereta but the owner refused due to a lack of space. One challenge was to find alternative facilities to house them. ICF staff seized the cats, pumas, sloths, sparrowhawks, exotic birds and many more. Zimba the jaguar was not the only animal ordered to be removed from the LFK zoo. The zoo had been prohibited from acquiring new animals and had continued to do so.Īnd shockingly, part of its infrastructure is mounted directly upon Roatán’s coral reef, one of the most vibrant on the planet, also without the corresponding permits.īut the biologists had not only filed reports. Some animals, such as certain protected species of monkeys, had likely been illegally trafficked from the jungles of La Mosquitia. The zoo had no permits to own certain animals, such as the felines or macaw parrots. Enclosures had no elements to help entertain or reduce stress among the animals, such as vegetation or toys. This was just another item on a long list of suspicions that Honduras' Forest Conservation Institute of Honduras (Instituto de Conservación Forestal de Honduras - ICF) had about the zoo since it started operating in 2011 and which remained constant year after year, raid after raid.īig cats such as tigers, lions and jaguars were kept in cages that were far too small. Speaking to InSight Crime on condition of anonymity due to fears for her safety, the biologist said that the LFK zoo was raided in 2015, 20 for the same reasons. There is no way Zimba should still have been there. The zoo at Little French Key (LFK) on the island of Roatán, Honduras’ Caribbean coast, did not have the permits to own certain exotic animals and did not meet basic requirements to keep exotic animals. It had the same spot in the shape of a butterfly on its face. The biologist recognized it as the same jaguar she had ordered to be confiscated a year earlier during her first inspection in 2015. Zimba the jaguar should not have been there. ![]()
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