A four-year-old giraffe named Benito whose living conditions in a Ciudad Juárez park created a public outcry is settling into his new home at a wildlife preserve in southern Mexico.
“Welcome Benito! We’re very happy you are here,” Frank Carlos Camacho, head of Africam Safari, said at a press conference at the wildlife facility early Tuesday morning shortly after the giraffe arrived.
Camacho, who accompanied Benito throughout the move, detailed the more than 1,200-mile journey to the state of Puebla on social media for tens of thousands of followers who care about the giraffe.
The more than 30-hour road trip began in Ciudad Juárez where a large crowd gathered Sunday night to bid the giraffe farewell. There was a festive atmosphere and a woman in the crowd yelled “larga y feliz vida Benito?” wishing him a long and happy life.
“This is an unforgettable date,” said Ana Feliz from the organization Salvemos Benito, which advocated for his new quarters. “We are overjoyed.”
For months, the “Save Benito” organization fought to relocate the giraffe using public pressure, a petition drive, and a social media campaign.
Since Benito’s arrival in Juárez last May, Parque Central has been the center of controversy and the site of protests. Animal advocates said he did not have proper shelter or veterinary care in Juárez, which does not have a zoo.
Benito was transported from Juárez in a climate-controlled crate fitted with two cameras to monitor him on the trip and a microphone so handlers could speak to him along the way when he appeared nervous. Mexico’s national guard escorted the giraffe across multiple states.
At his new home in the state of Puebla, Benito has a lot more space to roam and a proper diet including acacia tree leaves. The climate is warmer, and he’ll get proper veterinary care from wildlife experts, officials said.
It’s in sharp contrast to the park in Juárez where he had a flimsy shelter from winter’s freezing cold and little shade in the blistering summer.
Benito lived a solitary life for nearly a year but now will be part of a herd. He’ll be introduced to seven other giraffes at the wildlife park in the next few days. Three are females and it is expected that he will find a mate, reproduce and help preserve the vulnerable species.
The relocation was made possible because people banded together on both sides of the border, said animal advocate and El Pasoan Laura Sanchez.
“I think that’s a great lesson for all of us, the more of us who are united in helping these animals, obviously they don’t have a voice, so we have to be their voice,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez traveled from El Paso to Puebla and planned to visit Benito at the preserve Wednesday.
Animal rights advocates are celebrating their hard-fought victory. There is still much work to do to ensure Mexico’s laws protecting both domestic and wild animals are enforced, Felix said.
“We can fight,” Felix said. “We can continue. We can achieve.”
The post Benito, the Juárez giraffe, finds a new home in southern Mexico appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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