Lions, elephants under the

A pack of veterinarians clambered over large metal crates on Tuesday morning and loaded semi-trucks one by one on a fleet. Under the load: tigers, monkeys, jaguars, elephants and lions – all flee the newest wave of Cartel violence The northern Mexican city of Culiacan darkens.

Years, Exotic pets of cartel members And circus animals live in a small animal refuge on the edge of the capital of Sinaloa. Last year, however, a bloody power struggle broke out between rival Sinaloa cartel Factions, who dump the region into unprecedented violence and make the leaders of the Oster sanctuary shake of armed attacks, constant death threats and an end to essential supplies that are needed to keep their 700 animals alive.

The aid organization now leaves Culiacan and transports the animal hours throughout the state in the hope that they will suffer from violence. But fighting has become so widespread in the region that many fear that it will inevitably catch up.

“We have never seen so extreme violence,” said Ernesto Zazueta, president of the Ostoke Sanctuary. “We are worried about the animals coming here to have a better future.”

Violence in the city exploded eight months ago when two rival Sinaloa cartel promotions started to fight after the territory The dramatic kidnapping of Ismael “El Mayo” ZambadaThe leader of one of the groups, by a son of Notorious Capo Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who then delivered him to the American authorities via a private plane.

Zambada and are “el chapos” Joaquin Guzmán López were arrested when they landed in Texas.

Since then, intense fights between the heavily armed factions have become the new normal for citizens in Culiacan, a city that for years avoided the worst of Mexico’s violence, largely because the Sinaloa cartel maintained such a complete control.

“With the escalating war between the two factions of the Sinaloa cartel, they started extinguishing, kidnapping and robbing cars because they need money to finance their war,” said security analyst David Saucedo. “And the citizens in Culiacan are those who suffer.”

Animals scared by cartel battles

Zazueta, the casual director, said that their flight from the city is a different sign of how far the warfare has crept into daily life.

This week, Refuge staff loaded roaring animals on a convoy when some trainers tried to calm the animals. They muttered with a soft voice as he fed a bag of carrots on an elephant in a shipping container: “I will be here, nobody will do anything to you.”

Veterinarians and animals, accompanied by the Mexican National Guard, began to travel along the highway to Mazatlan aan Zee, where they were planning to release the animals in another nature reserve.

The move came after months of planning and training the animals, a movement of the organization in an act of despair. They said that the sanctuary was trapped in the crossfire of the warfare because of the proximity of the city of Jesús María, a stronghold of Los Chapitos, one of the warring factions.

During intense periods of violence, the staff in the sanctuary can hear gun shots who grist in the neighborhood, the roar of cars and helicopters above the head, something they say the animals scares. Cartel fights regularly blocks staff to reach the sanctuary, and some animals went without food for days. Many started losing fur and at least two animals died because of the situation, said Zazueta.

Complicating things is the fact that an increasing number of the animals they save are former narco -house animals that are left in the rural areas. In one case, a Bengal tiger was discovered chained in a square, trapped in the center of Shootouts. Urban legends circulate in Sinaloa that capos feed their enemies with pets lions. The US Department of Justice claimed in an indictment in 2023 that the sons of “El Chapo” and their Cartel Associates Some of their victims “death or alive to tigers.”

Diego García, an employee of the refuge, is one of those who travel outside to save those animals. He said that he regularly receives anonymous threats, whereby callers claim to know his address and how he could find him. He is worried that he will be the target for removing the former Pets from Capos. Zazueta said that the refuge also receives calls that threatens to burn the sanctuary on the ground and kill the animals if the payment is not made.

“Nowadays there is no longer a safe place in this city,” said García.

That is the feeling for many in the city of 1 million. When the sun rises, parents check news about shootouts as if it were again, to determine whether it is safe to send their children to school. Burned houses are full of bullets and occasionally bodies seem to hang on bridges outside the city. At night, Culiacan turns into a ghost city, making bars and clubs unlocked and much without work.

“My son, my son, I am here. I am not going to leave you alone,” a mother shouted, sobbed the side of the road and cursed officials while inspecting her son’s dead body, spread and surrounded by bullet omhing late Monday evening. “Why doesn’t the police do anything?” She screamed.

“What are we doing here?”

In February, during the management of a refuge vehicle that was used for animal transport, García said he was forced out of the car by an armed, masked man in an SUV. At the shot they have stolen the truck, veterinary medicine and tools used by the group for rescues and made it vibrate on the side of the road.

The breaking point for the Okste saint came in March, when one of the two elephants under their care, Bireki, injured her foot. Veterinarians clambed to find a specialist to treat her in Mexico, the United States and beyond. Nobody would defy the trip to Culiacan.

“We wondered:” What are we doing here? “Said Zazueta. ‘We cannot run the risk that this will happen again. If we don’t leave, who will treat them? “

The care of many is that Mexico’s hard action against the cartels will be confronted with even more violent power movements by criminal organizations, as happened in the past, Saucedo said the security analyst.

Zazueta blames the local government and security forces because they have not done anymore, and said that their supplications have remained unanswered in the past eight months.

The office of the Governor of Sinaloa did not immediately respond to an application comment.

The sanctuary made the move without any public announcement, concerned that they could be confronted with repercussions from local officials or the same cartels that force them to flee, but they hope that the animals will find some lighting in Mazatlan in Mazatlan after years of conflicts.

García, the staff member of the sanctuary, is not that certain. Although he hopes for the best, he said he also saw cartel violence as a cancer in the Latin -American country. Mazatlan is also confronted with outbursts of violence, although nothing compared to the capital of Sinaloan.

“It’s at least more stable,” he said. “Because it is simply stifled here today.”

Cartel violence also often occurs in the central state of Guanajuato, the most deadly state of Mexico. This week Schutters opened fire and seven people, including some minors, killed in a square in the city of San Felipe, said the police. It is believed that the violent crime is linked to a conflict between the Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco New Generation CartelOne of the most powerful in Mexico.