Texas wildlife sanctuary offers to take in Juárez giraffe Benito

Lauren Villagran, El Paso Times
Updated ·2 min read

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated there would be a news conference at the El Paso Zoo.

A Texas wildlife sanctuary has offered to take in Benito, the giraffe who conservationists say is living in "deplorable" conditions in a Juárez public park.

Laura Sanchez-Jacome, a medical device representative who is also a Borderland animal activist, took on Benito's cause as a personal crusade. The giraffe has been living alone, in a small enclosure, at the Parque Central in Juárez since May.

Her Change.org petition to find a new home for Benito has garnered more than 138,000 signatures since she launched it June 6.

"The park is in deplorable conditions," she said. "I went there myself — it's bad. That's when I started the Change.org petition."

More: Online petition calls for relocating 'lonely' giraffe Benito in Juárez to Texas ranch

Patrick Craig, director of The Wild Animal Sanctuary, said the sanctuary's facility in Boyd, Texas, outside Fort Worth, has a 6-acre pasture that could be habilitated for Benito, Sanchez-Jacome said. The Wild Animal Sanctuary is accredited by the American Sanctuary Association.

Craig also offered to handle the importation process, she said. The El Paso Times couldn't immediately reach Craig for comment but reviewed emails documenting the offer.

The city of Juárez, which runs the Parque Central, so far has been unwilling to relinquish Benito, Sanchez-Jacome said.

Children visit Benito the giraffe at the city run Central Park in Juárez on June 13. Activists are working to get Benito, a 3-year-old male giraffe who arrived in May, removed from the small enclosure in the Mexican border city.
Children visit Benito the giraffe at the city run Central Park in Juárez on June 13. Activists are working to get Benito, a 3-year-old male giraffe who arrived in May, removed from the small enclosure in the Mexican border city.

On Thursday, Parque Central Director Rogelio Muñoz was scheduled to receive a tour of the El Paso Zoo, city spokeswoman Laura Cruz-Acosta said. The tour was canceled.

“Juárez has reached out to us," Cruz-Acosta said, regarding animal care.

“We’ve advised them how we take care of animals in general, but that is the extent of it,” Cruz-Acosta said. “We cannot advise them on what to do with their animals. We’ve only advised them on how we take care of ours.”

A child offers a carrot to Benito the giraffe at the city-run Central Park in Juárez on June 13. Activists are working to get Benito, a 3-year-old male giraffe who arrived in May, removed from the small enclosure in the Mexican border city. Activists say it is cruel to keep the giraffe in the small fenced enclosure, with only about a half-acre to wander alone and few trees to nibble, in a climate he’s not used to.

Photos posted online show Benito in a small enclosure on one side of the Parque Central with minimal shade, despite the triple-digit temperatures. He is the only giraffe in the park, which borders busy Avenida Tecnológico.

"Benito is a 3-year-old giraffe who was separated from his mother in Sinaloa state, where he was in the care of experts along with others of his species," according to the online petition. "Benito was transported to Juárez in deplorable conditions for 22 hours to the Parque Central where he doesn't have access to grass, clean food or water in abundance or appropriate shade."

The giraffe has been in the park since May.

Lauren Villagran can be reached at lvillagran@elpasotimes.com, on Twitter @laurenvillagran or on Instagram @fronteravillagran.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Juárez giraffe receives offer of refuge at Texas wildlife sanctuary