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The unexplained disappearance of one of the two giraffes at the Culiacán Zoo, in the capital city of Sinaloa, has captivated local residents and sparked a wave of viral memes.
The zoo’s new director, José María “Chema” Casanova Rodríguez, confirmed Thursday that when he assumed his role on Nov. 7, the giraffe was already absent. Casanova said determining the animal’s fate falls to his predecessor, Diego García Heredia, who oversaw the zoo during the giraffe’s last recorded presence.
La jirafa que anda perdida del Zoo de Culiacán, anda turisteando por la ciudad 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/pSGQflKWe3
— Culiacán, Sinaloa (@EsCuliacan) December 27, 2024
“When I arrived, the [second] giraffe was no longer there,” explained Casanova, who was a Morena city council member in Culiacán, from 2021 to earlier this year. “The [outgoing director] is the one who has to give that answer. As in all zoos … there is a possibility that there was an exchange between zoos, or that there was a death — if so, there should be a necropsy [an animal autopsy].”
Casanova said he has until Jan. 13 to complete a report that includes information about the zoo’s animal inventory and records of animal deliveries and outgoing shipments.
However, he indicated he will present his report a week early, on Jan. 6, so the fate of the giraffe can be clarified.
“I need to finish the handover to determine exactly what happened, not only to the giraffe, but perhaps to all the animals that are or were in the zoo,” he added.
Input from the former director is expected, and Culiacán Mayor Juan de Dios Gámez Mendívil was reportedly looking to meet with zoo staff on Friday to discuss the situation.
As of Friday morning, there were no reports of theft or disappearance of the giraffe, according to Leoncio Pedro García Alatorre, a public security official in Sinaloa. However, he did say that about three and a half months ago, a citizen called an emergency line to report that people were trying to steal a tiger from the zoo (a complaint that was later determined to be false).
Since then, García said, patrols have been maintained near the zoo, with no anomalies reported.
The news of the missing giraffe quickly gained traction online, with local residents creating memes that imagined the over four-meter (13-foot) animal in iconic nearby locations, such as the Tomateros baseball stadium and the Forum Culiacán shopping mall.
Some social media users invoked the city’s challenges, with one post reading, “Even the giraffe left Culiacán because of the violence,” according to Quiero TV.
This is the second Mexico giraffe story to garner headlines in 2024. At the beginning of the year, a giraffe living in deplorable conditions in a city park in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, became a cause célèbre before being moved to a spacious safari park in the state of Puebla.
With reports from Potosí Noticias, El Sol de Sinaloa, Contra Réplica, Los Noticieristas and Quiero TV