A giraffe named Benito began a 50-hour highway journey Monday to go away behind the chilly and loneliness of Mexico’s northern border metropolis of Ciudad Juarez to seek out heat — and possibly a mate — in his new dwelling 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) to the south.
A marketing campaign by animal rights activists received the four-year-old giraffe a switch to an animal park in Puebla state in central Mexico, the place he’ll be a part of a bunch of resident giraffes and revel in a extra appropriate local weather.
It has been an extended and lonesome highway for Benito. Jealousy pressured him to go away his dwelling at a zoo within the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa; he was taken final yr to a city-run park in Ciudad Juarez, throughout from El Paso, Texas to guide a life alone.
With temperatures in Ciudad Juarez reaching as little as 39 levels F (4 levels C) Monday, Benito set off in a crate strapped to the again of a flat-bed truck. He’s a tall load, about 16 ft (meters) excessive, and the roof of his crate could be lowered to move below bridges.
AP Photograph
The animal’s head sticks up by the highest of the massive picket and metallic 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.
Residents gathered to say goodbye late Sunday in Ciudad Juarez as a crane lifted the container holding the giraffe onto the truck in preparation for the journey. “We love you, Benito,” a few of them shouted.
“We’re somewhat unhappy that he’s leaving. however it additionally provides us nice pleasure … The climate circumstances usually are not appropriate for him,” mentioned Flor Ortega, a 23-year-old who mentioned she had spent her whole life visiting Modesto, one other giraffe who was on the zoo for twenty years earlier than dying in 2022. Benito arrived final Could.
Benito is being transported throughout Mexico to Africam Safari park in central Puebla state the place the low temperatures are about 20 levels F hotter than in Ciudad Juarez.
Extra importantly, Benito might lastly discover a mate: There can be three feminine giraffes at his new dwelling.
Environmental teams had voiced sturdy complaints about circumstances confronted by Benito on the city-run Central Park zoo in Ciudad Juarez, the place climate in the summertime is brutally sizzling and temperatures plunge throughout the winter.
Benito initially got here from a zoo within the way more temperate local weather of Sinaloa, a state on Mexico’s northern Pacific coast. Benito couldn’t stick with the 2 different giraffes there as a result of they had been a pair, and zookeepers feared the male would turn into territorial and assault the youthful Benito.
So he was donated to Ciudad Juarez. In the summertime there, he had little shade in his half-acre (0.2 hectare) enclosure; photographs confirmed him crouching to suit below a small, round shade cover in the summertime. Within the winter, ice typically shaped within the enclosure’s pond. There have been few bushes for him to munch on.
On the Africam Safari park, the giraffes dwell in a a lot bigger area that extra carefully resembles their pure habitat. Guests journey by the park in all-terrain autos to look at animals as in the event that they had been on safari.
The container specifically designed to move Benito is greater than 5 meters excessive (16.5 ft). The giraffe was allowed to turn into acquainted with it throughout the weekend, mentioned Frank Carlos Camacho, the director of the Africam Safari park.
In a video replace posted Monday from the cab of the truck about ten hours into the journey, Camacho mentioned “so far the whole lot goes completely … the giraffe is doing very effectively.”
Contained in the container is straw, alfalfa, water and greens, and digital gear screens the temperature and even permits technicians to speak to the animal.
Outdoors, Benito is being escorted by a convoy of police, environmental officers and the Nationwide Guard.
At his new dwelling, it is going to be nearly like life will start once more for him, Camacho mentioned. “He’s able to be a giraffe,” he mentioned. “He’ll reproduce quickly, and contribute to the conservation of this glorious species.”
___
Related Press author Maria Verza in Mexico Metropolis contributed to this report.
