A Mexican wildlife sanctuary has evacuated hundreds of exotic animals to escape cartel violence near Culiacán, Sinaloa, marking one of the largest animal relocations in the country’s history.
Ostok Sanctuary, home to about 700 animals including elephants, tigers and lions, transported its inhabitants 140 miles to a new refuge in Mazatlán after months of armed attacks, threats and supply shortages.
Después de cuatro años de operación, el Santuario OSTOK, que ha rescatado a más de 2 mil especies de animales silvestres y exóticos, ha cerrado sus puertas en Culiacán, #Sinaloa, debido a la ola de inseguridad y violencia que existe en la ciudad.
📹: @sandovalvictor.… pic.twitter.com/ax7pjTZ2ER
— W Radio México (@WRADIOMexico) May 20, 2025
The transfer began Tuesday with a 15-truck convoy, escorted by National Guard personnel and accompanied by zoo veterinary technicians and wildlife management specialists.
Ostok Sanctuary is located 25 kilometers north of the capital of Culiacán — a city that rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel have turned into a battlefield for territorial control, following last summer’s arrest and extradition to the United States of cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
Ostok’s founder and president, Ernesto Zazueta, described the decision to shut down his 4-year-old sanctuary and move the animals as desperate but necessary.
“We’ve never seen violence this extreme,” he said, citing frequent gun battles near the refuge and roadblocks that left animals without food for days.
Staff faced direct threats, including a February incident in which armed men stole a rescue truck and supplies at gunpoint.
“There’s no safe place left in this city these days,” said Diego García, a sanctuary worker.
Veterinarians struggled to treat injured animals, such as Bireki, an elephant whose foot infection went untreated for weeks due to specialists refusing to enter the conflict zone.
Culiacán’s one million residents endure daily terror, as cartel checkpoints, armed clashes and public executions proliferate, along with kidnappings, vehicle thefts and business vandalism.
According to the newspaper Expansión, 800 businesses in Culiacán have closed since September, and there have been temporary closures of 97 schools.
Statistics in the newspaper Noroeste, cited by the Latin Times, noted there were 956 killings in Sinaloa from early September 2024 through early March 2025. The bloodiest month reported was October 2024, with 187 homicides, an average of more than 6 per day.
“Why do the police do nothing?” cried a mother mourning her son’s bullet-riddled body on a roadside this week.
The first animals arriving in Mazatlán were welcomed into Bioparc El Encanto — a new 50-hectare sanctuary slated to open to the public in August.
Zazueta called the move “an act of resistance, love and dignity,” though staff remain wary, as Mazatlan has faced violence, too, although certainly not as much as Culiacán.
Zazueta’s reserve was in the hills north of Culiacán, where violence has increased this month.
According to the newspaper El País, clashes between the two Sinaloa Cartel factions — “Los Chapitos” and “Los Mayitos” — had been occurring mainly in Culiacán and the southern municipalities, but this month have spread to the mountainous area north of the capital.
“Trucks with armed men have circulated in broad daylight” through some municipalities, “and gunmen have exchanged fire,” the paper wrote. “Shots have reached the once peaceful municipality of Mocorito, known for its mining activity.”
David Saucedo, a well-known Mexican security analyst who frequently comments on issues of organized crime, cartel violence and public security in Mexico, warned that crackdowns on either faction risk further cartel retaliation, perpetuating a cycle of bloodshed.
With reports from Expansión, Associated Press, Quadratin Sinaloa and Sin Embargo
