Former director denies serving zoo animals for New Year’s Eve dinner

By Karol Suarez and Hira Humayun | CNN

The former head of a zoo in the Mexican state of Guerrero is accused, among other things, of having some animals killed for meat.

Fernando Ruiz, director of wildlife at the Guerrero environment ministry, said in a news conference on Tuesday that records at Zoochilpan Zoo in Chilpancingo misrepresented the number of pygmy goats last summer, and accused former director José Rubén Nava Noriega of cooking some too have — a claim Nava denied.

There were “five females and five males, of which the former director had four male specimens for New Year’s Eve dinner,” Ruiz claimed.

“That is, these four specimens were sacrificed and cooked at the facilities of the same zoo and used as food in the end-of-year celebration.”

He added that the health of those who ate the meal would have been endangered because the animals were “unfit for human consumption”.

In a statement, the Environment Ministry also addressed other administrative inconsistencies at the zoo. It said that in another incident, Nava traded four cattle in exchange for materials, tools and supplies for the park, but that she was not informed of the delivery of the cattle, as per protocol, and those materials and tools were not found that grounds of the zoo.

Nava dismissed all allegations as false during a news conference on Wednesday, claiming there was a “dirty war” over control of the zoo’s budget.

He also said that all actions performed during the time he was in charge of the zoo were lawful.