Ciudad Juarez, Mexico — After a campaign by environmentalists, Benito the giraffe 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 home to other giraffes.
Environmental groups had voiced strong complaints about conditions faced by Benito at the city-run Central Park zoo in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, where weather in the summer is brutally hot and temperatures plunge during the winter.
Benito the giraffe walks out of his enclosure at the city-run Central Park zoo prior to his transfer to a new habitat, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Jan. 21, 2024. Christian Chavez / AP
A crane carefully lifted a container holding the giraffe onto a truck while city dwellers in love with the animal said a bittersweet goodbye. Some activists shouted,
