Mexico: Frida and the new life of big cats that had been turned into pets
When she was a cub, Frida, a Bengal tiger, lived chained in a parking lot and barely crawled. She now struts majestically in an ecological reserve in Mexico, home to rescued animals after being acquired as pets or held by criminals.
Rich in biodiversity, Mexico does not escape the trafficking of exotic fauna bought by families, merchants and even drug traffickers, as former capo Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, fallen from grace and now imprisoned in the United States, learned at the time.
"There are many exotic birds, such as macaws or parrots, reptiles, many primates and large cats; it is what we have detected most that people have," Lucio García Gil, head of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (Profepa), said.
Annually, between 150 and 200 exotic animals, including big cats, are seized in the megacity: in 2021, two of these specimens were rescued, and this year, four, including a lion cub.
The price of tigers or lions on the illegal market is similar to that of a purebred dog, since the traffickers urgently need, when they are puppies, "to move the merchandise," explains García Gil. They sell for between $1,000 and $5,000.
