After animal rights campaign, giraffe Benito arrives at new Mexican home

LISSETTE ROMERO Associated Press
Jan 23, 2024 Updated 9 hrs ago

Benito, the most famous giraffe in Mexico, finally arrived Tuesday morning at Africam Safari, a large conservation park in Central Mexico that will be his new home.


PUEBLA, Mexico — A 4-year-old giraffe named Benito arrived Tuesday at his new home in a large animal park in central Mexico. Now the hard part starts for the gangly post-adolescent: fitting in with the crowd of seven giraffes in his new neighborhood.

The 7.5-acre enclosure at the Africam Safari park in central Puebla state already holds seven giraffes, including three females.

Benito, who was transferred following pressure from animal advocates, spent the last year totally alone at a dusty city park in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez. As he enters adulthood, as with many species, he may have to quickly develop some social skills.



Workers prepare Benito the giraffe for transport at the city-run Central Park Zoo in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024. After a campaign by environmentalists, Benito left Mexico's northern border and its extreme weather conditions Sunday night and headed for a conservation park in central Mexico, where the climate is more akin to his natural habitat and already a home to other giraffes. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)

Christian Chavez


He is being held in a tall-roofed medical evaluation room at Africam Safari park after his 1,200-mile trip from Ciudad Juarez in a crate on the back of a flat-bed truck. The park wants to move him out to meet the rest of the herd as soon as possible, possibly within a couple of days.

More:
https://democratherald.com/news/nation-wornce/wildlife-ald/scienimals-safari-mexico-campaign/article_c94fbc6e-f246-52ad-905e-21f32a2074bf.html



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Benito the giraffe goes on a 40-hour road trip to find warmth, and maybe a mate, in central Mexico
A giraffe named Benito has started a 40-hour road trip to leave the cold and loneliness of Mexico’s border city of Ciudad Juarez, and maybe find love and warmth in his new home

By ALICIA FERNÁNDEZ - Associated Press JAN 22, 2024 Updated 19 HRS AGO



CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — A giraffe named Benito started a 40-hour road trip Monday to leave behind the cold and loneliness of Mexico’s northern border city of Ciudad Juarez to find warmth — and maybe a mate — in his new home 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) to the south.

A campaign by animal rights activists won the four-year-old giraffe a transfer to an animal park in Puebla state in central Mexico, where he will join a group of resident giraffes and enjoy a more suitable climate.

It has been a long and lonesome road for Benito. Jealousy forced him to leave his home at a zoo in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa; he was taken last year to a city-run park in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas to lead a life alone.

With temperatures in Ciudad Juarez reaching as low as 39 degrees F (4 degrees C) Monday, Benito set off in a crate strapped to the back of a flat-bed truck. He is a tall load, about 16 feet (meters) high, and the roof of his crate can be lowered to pass under bridges.

The animal’s head sticks up through the top of the big wooden and metal box, but a frame allows a tarp to cover over Benito and insulate him from the cold, wind and rain as well as from noise and the sight of landscape speeding by.

Residents gathered to say goodbye late Sunday in Ciudad Juarez as a crane lifted the container holding the giraffe onto the truck in preparation for the journey. “We love you, Benito,” some of them shouted.

More:
https://www.newspressnow.com/news/regional_news/kansas/benito-the-giraffe-is-on-a-50-hour-trip-to-central-mexico-where-the-weather/article_4c816d4c-0248-5a9a-be6d-20ea7bcc6fc1.html