One of the Bengal tigers seized in Sonora.The federal environmental agency Profepa has seized three Bengal tigers, a lion, 23 turtles, a lemur and a crocodile from a home in Hermosillo, Sonora, after a seven-year-old girl was attacked by one of the tigers.
The girl was in intensive care but in stable condition after an injury to the back of her head.
Set up as a “private zoo,” the house in the Las Minitas neighborhood lacked the required security measures to keep the animals and the owner was unable to present documentation showing their origin, authorities said.
Nor did he have documentation issued by the federal Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources for a handling, care and feeding program designed for wild animal species.
Profepa inspectors found that two of the tigers had been tagged with the required microchips, but the remaining animals lacked this identification system.
The owner of the animals, and father of the young girl, lamented that his animals had been seized.
He said his plan was to create an ecological reserve where animals would be kept for conservation rather than entertainment although in future he wished to open a zoo to allow people to see them.
Source: El Imparcial (sp), Milenio (sp)
