Animals at Embattled Puerto Rico Zoo to Be Transferred Following Settlement

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the government of Puerto Rico reached a settlement to remove the animals currently housed at Puerto Rico’s only zoo.

As part of the deal, DOJ announced it is dropping all investigations into the former Dr. Juan A. Rivera Zoo in Mayaguez, which has seen a number of animals fall into ill health and die over recent years. The zoo itself has been closed since Hurricanes Maria and Irma battered the island in 2017.

The approximately 500 animals at the zoo and the Centro de Detención en Cambalache will be relocated to facilities in the continental U.S. that are able to “humanely and appropriately house and care for the animals.” Animals at the zoo range from tarantulas to a single elephant.

Experts from the Wild Animal Sanctuary, which operates four wildlife sanctuaries in Colorado and Texas, are completing inventory and evaluations of the animals. The Wild Animal Sanctuary is forming a plan to transfer the animals to a number of U.S. facilities, including their own. The transfers are expected to be completed within six months and will be done as “necessary and appropriate” to address animal health needs.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has already removed two eagles, two owls, a hawk, and two snakes.

Some activists were upset that the government of Puerto Rico will not be further investigated for the treatment of the zoo animals.

However, U.S. Attorney for Puerto Rico Stephen Muldrow said at a press conference that going to court would delay the transfer of the animals.

Muldrow also blamed institutional issues and a lack of resources for the animal deaths and lack of animal care saying at a news conference that “There was no intentional damage to the animals.”

Still, Christian Rios, President of an animal rights commission at Puerto Rico’s Association of Attorneys stated, “We were demanding that the federal government do its job: investigate violations. This leaves a bad taste in our mouths.”

Among the violations noted by a government-appointed committee: the death of two pumas, an underweight chimpanzee, a limping rhinoceros, lack of shelter for animals including a kangaroo and porcupine, and a puma that was euthanized after a cancer diagnosis. 


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