Two employees of the BioParque in Rio de Janeiro and two public servants were denounced by the Federal Public Ministry for alleged irregularities and mistreatment in the importation of 18 giraffes from South Africa to Brazil, in November 2021. Three animals died after trying to escape the area where they were being held, at the Portobello Resort, in Mangaratiba, on the south coast of Rio de Janeiro. The complaint was filed with the 10th Federal Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro and followed the indictment concluded by an investigation by the Federal Police. The prosecution denounced the technical manager and the director of operations at the BioParque for mistreatment of the 18 giraffes, irregular importation and difficulties with the inspection by the public authorities, with the delay in communicating the deaths of the animals to the authorities. The zoo contests the MPF’s conclusions, claims that there were no illegalities and adds that the 15 remaining giraffes are fine and in places that respect environmental standards. There is no forecast for them to be transferred to the BioParque, located in Quinta da Boa Vista, in São Cristóvão, in the north zone of Rio de Janeiro. An employee of the Rio de Janeiro State Institute for the Environment (Inea) and another employee of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) were also denounced. The public ministry claims that the inspectors prepared documents containing false or misleading statements for licensing the importation of 18 mammals and other animals destined for the BioParque. The inspectors would have falsely attested that the captivity had appropriate conditions to receive giraffes imported from Africa. The MPF argues in the complaint that the cause of death of the three giraffes would have been a muscular disease, called myopathy, caused by “intense suffering and extreme stress”. According to the prosecution, the animals were in a claustrophobic space, with only 10 square meters each, when the legislation determines that every two animals of that size would need 600 square meters. BioParque and Inea deny Sought by Agência Brasil, BioParque in Rio de Janeiro, belonging to the Cataratas Group, claims that it acted with total transparency and rejects the hypothesis of illegality in the importation of animals. “BioParque do Rio acted with total transparency and there is no hypothesis of illegality. The entire import process strictly followed Brazilian and South African norms. will spare no efforts to demonstrate the legality of the conduct of its employees. BioParque do Rio reiterates its commitment to the well-being of the animals under its management. ) and accompanied by the competent bodies, respecting procedures, safety protocols and striving for well-being. They remain at Portobello Safari and there is no definition on their transfer to BioParque do Rio “, says the zoo’s response. do Ambiente also questioned the MPF’s accusation and said that the opinion drawn up by her servant was based on technical and objective standards. tion that the Inea employee issued a ‘technical opinion with known false or misleading information’ is unfounded, as the opinion was based on technical and objective standards, especially Technical Instruction (IN) No. 07/2015 issued by Ibama, and on Resolution Inea nº 157/2018, which supported the technical opinion nº 1702/2021 of the server, specifically on the conditions and characteristics of the temporary habitat until the animals were transferred to their definitive location”, says Inea, which claims to have certified that the characteristics of the habitat were in accordance with the relevant technical norms, but that the assessment of the treatment of the site and the animals was part of a later stage, under the responsibility of Ibama. Inea adds that it accompanied the construction and adaptation of the giraffes to the new enclosure built by BioParque. Sought, Ibama did not respond to the report until the closing of this report.
Agência Brasil
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