Zoo director accused of killing four goats for a Christmas banquet

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A former zoo director has been accused of killing four of the zoo’s pygmy goats and serving them at a Christmas party in Mexico. Authorities said an investigation found some of the animals in the local zoo’s collection in the southern city of Chilpancingo had allegedly been sold off, traded or eaten under Jose Ruben Nava’s orders. But one of the most shocking allegations was that the zoo director had cooked four of the male pygmy goats to serve at an end of year banquet.

Fernando Ruiz Gutierrez, the state environment department’s director of wildlife, said: “These four animals were slaughtered and cooked on the zoo’s premises, and were served as food at the year-end party.

“This put the health of the people who ate them at risk because these animals were not fit for human consumption.”

Authorities also said a zebra was traded for tools, and deer and Watusi cattle were traded off to private individuals, without proper accounting.

It was not clear if Nava had been formally charged in the case or if he had a lawyer, reports Sky News.

A new director has taken his place from January 12 following the death of a deer there.

An inspection was unable to find tools that he had supposedly traded the zoo’s zebra for.

Mexico has long had a problem with private citizens illegally acquiring exotic animals.

For years, drug traffickers in Mexico have been known to build private menageries of lions, tigers and other wild animals.

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