In a Mexican wildlife refuge, there is disturbing video of large cats that appears to exhibit signs of devouring their own tails that has been spreading on social media amid reports that the animals are living in “holocaust” circumstances.
The Black Jaguar White Tiger Foundation’s wildlife facility is where 35-year-old Mexican actor Arturo Islas Allende is said to have snapped the viral photo that highlighted the animal’s predicament.
In the heartbreaking footage, many huge cats appear thin and fragile, their skin covered in a variety of lesions.
Mr. Allende describes the environment in the film as “a holocaust” and expresses his confusion over why, for so long, “no one has done anything” to alleviate the suffering of the creatures.
The nonprofit is supposedly committed to saving wild cats and other animals from appalling circumstances in circuses, zoos, and illicit breeding facilities. It is based in Mexico City’s Tlalpan neighborhood.
The actor did, however, mention that after working there for two years and seeing the abuse the animals had through, animal activist Yael Ruiz denounced the center to the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA), but she apparently never heard back.
“[Ruiz] sought for me and offered to take me,” he claimed. “I went and was able to view, document, and personally experience the horror.”
“A report was made days ago to @profepa mx and other authorities, and nothing has done,” reads the complaint.
As Ms. Ruiz continues to explain that huge cats chew their tails “out of anxiousness,” the movie cuts to many cats with amputated tails.
The foundation for animal mistreatment has been denounced by Mr. Allende and animal rights organizations including the Association of Zoos, Breeders, and Aquariums of Mexico (AZCARM).
On Twitter, AZCARM accused Black Jaguar-White Tiger founder Eduardo Mauricio Moises Serio of abandoning and mistreating hundreds of big cats, several in danger of extinction.