Mexican naval, judicial and public safety authorities found 135 exotic animals during recent raids on fuel smugglers in the border state of Tamaulipas.
Mexico’s Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection, the Mexican navy and Mexico’s federal attorney general’s office carried out five raids in Altamira and Tampico, the secretariat said in a release.
The busted properties southwest and south of Brownsville, Texas, included a house, an illegal gas station, a storage facility, a workshop and a ranch, where officials found the exotic animals. The secretariat said one person, who was not named, was arrested at the ranch.
At least 35 of the animals are listed as endangered or are otherwise protected under Mexican regulations, including the Aztec parrot, bighorn sheep, bison, green iguana, green macaw, jaguar, ocelot and Mexican spider monkey, officials said.
Other animals seized belong to internationally regulated species, including three African lions, five Bengal tigers, a lemur, a mandrill and sulcata tortoises. Officials also found a camel, hyenas, a lion-tiger crossbreed called a liger, and water buffalo.
In addition to the animals, the raids turned up nearly 18,000 gallons of diesel fuel, multiple trucks, multiple tanks, a water pump, a hose, guns, ammunition, communications equipment and “containers related to the alleged storage and handling of illicitly obtained hydrocarbons,” Mexican officials said.
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