Monkey shot, tiger roams streets as cartels’ obsession with exotic pets leaves toll
Mexican narcos’ fascination with exotic animals was on display this week after a spider monkey dressed up as a drug gang mascot was killed in a shootout, a 200-kilo tiger wandered the streets in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, and a man died after trying to pet a captive tiger in a cartel-dominated area of western Michoacan state.
True to form, the monkey quickly got his own “corrida,” the traditional Mexican folk ballad often composed in honour of drug capos.“Life is very short, it wasn’t the monkey’s turn ,” according to the ballad, posted on social media. Those reports were based on a video posted on social media earlier this week, showing a young woman shrieking as she came across the tiger on the street in a residential neighbourhood. “Be quiet, it might come close,” a woman can be heard saying on the video.
On Sunday, authorities confirmed that a man was seriously wounded by a tiger in Periban, Michoacan, a town in the state’s avocado-growing region, where gangs have long extorted protection payments from the lucrative avocado trade. Michoacan state law enforcement authorities confirmed that the man was taken to a hospital, where he died a few days later from his injuries.