Honduras zoo struggles to replace drug money that built it
SANTA CrUz de YoJoA: An imposingly tall giraffe, powerful African lions and proud Bengal tigers are among the many highlights of a zoo – created by wealthy drug traffickers – that is like a Garden of Eden in the green mountains of Honduras.
But the Joya Grande animal park is now languishing because of a shortage of funds.
It was allegedly modelled after the Hacienda Napoles – the vast estate of the late Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar – by a violent Honduran cartel known as the Cachiros, sanctioned by the United States in 2013.
“The eco-park was very profitable, we had a lot of investment, but now we lack the capital that the owners had” since their arrests, biologist and zoo manager Maria Diaz said.
Four months of protests against the re-election last November of President Juan Orlando Hernandez blocked the main access road to the zoo, sharply curtailing the number of visitors.
The facility sits atop a hill 150km north of the capital city Tegucigalpa. A sign welcomes tourists with the words “Great Jewel Zoo”.
The giraffe stretches out its neck to greet visitors, while zebras munch on hay. Further down a slope are enclosures for deer, camels and tapirs, plus pools in which hippos wallow.
Next come cages and enclosures containing African lions, Bengal tigers, jaguars and pumas, followed by bison, llamas, wildebeest, ostriches, peacocks and other exotic animals.
Honduras’ Office of Seized Assets confiscated the facility from the drug cartel in April 2014, at which point Diaz managed to obtain a government concession to operate the place for US$7,400 (RM30,665) a month.
Even if no one comes, Diaz said, “We have to pay our employees and suppliers – and the animals will always have to eat.”