Captive Tigers Languishing in Deplorable Conditions in Cancun

categories: Activism and Actions, Animals in Entertainment, Investigations and Rescues

Published September 24, 2009 @ 02:33PM PT

For the last year, Mexican and American animal advocacy organizations have been working together in an increasingly critical effort to save seven tigers from horrid captive conditions in Cancun, amid the debris of a former restaurant (where they've been held for several years). And although it looked like the groups and the government had come to agreement on a plan to rescue the animals, officials failed to follow through.

A recent news release explains,

Last Chance for Animals (LCA), The Wild Animal Sanctuary (TWAS) and Gente Por La Defensa Animal (GEPDA) have been negotiating with the Mexican government since August 2008 to rescue and relocate 7 tigers held in abhorrent conditions at Pepe's restaurant, in Cancun, Mexico.

Exotic tigers and jaguars have been displayed for years in concrete and steel cages at Pepe's, a tourist attraction in Cancun, so customers could be entertained. When Hurricane Wilma hit Cancun in 2005, Pepe's was decimated. Some of the animals escaped and others were found barely alive in unsafe jail-like cells. After the storm, Pepe returned with no money to rebuild or care for the animals. He allowed them to sit in their decaying environment, barely alive, drinking stagnant water and eating insufficient amounts of food. One tiger moves by dragging her rear legs behind her, often sitting in her own feces and urine. The declining health of the animals is compounded by obvious neglect.

The coalition of animal protection groups had finally struck a deal with the Mexican government for the animals' early-September rescue and relocation to sanctuary in Colorado when the government pulled out. After outcry from the public, the Mexican Wildlife Department "proposed moving the animals from the restaurant and transporting them to temporary holding facilities near Mexico City, where they would be kept until legal proceedings concluded." In response, the animal advocates argued that this new plan "would put the tigers at great risk of injury, illness, trauma and distress. Additionally, holding them in temporary cages for months, in multiple facilities around Mexico City while court cases drag on, would only compound their suffering."

I'm often wary of U.S. activists leading the charge in petitioning other countries and governments -- that is, about the condescending tone and implications that often go along with such campaigns. But when an activist group from the country-at-issue itself is involved, that's a different matter. I breathe more easily when we're working with -- and supporting the efforts of -- animal advocates within that country, as in this case with Gente por la Defensa Animal. So the coalition of animal groups requests that you use the contact information on this page to respectfully voice your concerns and ask the government to return to the original plan for the animals' rescue.

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Comments (6)

It's so easy to do the right thing in this case. Pride gets in the way, I guess, and makes people complicate things and cause misery in the process.

If anyone needs an incentive to take action on the tigers' behalf: It takes only a few minutes to email each government official listed on the "contact" page above (I simply wrote one letter then copy/pasted it six times). Also, it's easy to access the hyperlinked "contact" form on the Mexican ambassador's website.

Considering that public outcry forced the Mexican wildlife department to offer an alternative plan, it stands to reason that further hue and cry will influence the agency to return to the original plan, and follow through on it.

To Colorado we go, Tigers!

Posted by Olivia White on 09/24/2009 @ 08:05PM PT
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Heartbreaking.....

We all must do our best to help these beautiful animals. I sent my letters! :-)

Posted by Kathy Jackson on 09/25/2009 @ 10:29AM PT
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Letters sent here too... I hope enough voices make the difference for these poor tigers. :(

Posted by Bea Elliott on 09/25/2009 @ 04:19PM PT
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I sent letters too. Why is it so deplorable ? Is it lack of tourist dollars ?

Posted by Anne ODonnell on 09/26/2009 @ 10:14PM PT
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Anne,

I sent this to a friend whose ex-husband owns a bamboo plantation on the Yucatan Peninsula, and she explained that the people do not mean to be cruel to the tigers, but that poverty and ignorance underlie the way animals are treated.

An idea that has helped me feel compassion for those who seem to not care about the tigers' plight is this unusual definition of the verb *forgive*: "to uphold innocence" (see Rodale's Synonym Finder, p. 431).

How great is that? By generously forgiving those who do not yet know better, we uphold their innate innocence. Wow! Such silent support is a powerful agent for good, improving thoughts and circumstances and lives, of the humans and thus of the tigers.

Posted by Olivia White on 09/26/2009 @ 11:26PM PT
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it just brakes my heart when i here of more of these great beautiful cat's reduced to live in these absolutely deplorable conditions,i just wish that i had the fund's to do something about these problems and it is so sad that's what it boils down too.is it true that people who have money don't care,it sure seems like it too me.

Posted by mike kowalchuk on 09/27/2009 @ 08:07PM PT
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Stephanie is an independent animal rights advocate, a vegan, a tree-hugging environmentalist, and a freelance editor and writer. She lives in St. Louis with an aging corgi-lab and an adolescent rescued pit bull.