For over a year and a half, 15 South African giraffes have been living behind fences, inside the luxury resort Portobello, in Mangaratiba, on the Costa Verde in Rio de Janeiro. Thousands of kilometers away from their home country, they are waiting to be transferred to a new location, better suited to their needs.
The decision on where they are going, however, has not yet been taken, amid legal imbroglios. Ibama ( Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), responsible for inspecting the giraffes, says it is still studying a solution. BioParque do Rio, which takes care of the animals, says it follows safety protocols and procedures that prioritize their well-being.
Meanwhile, four defendants respond in Federal Court for charges ranging from mistreatment to import fraud.
The giraffes arrived in Brazil on November 11, 2021. Originally, there were 18 of them and they would stay temporarily in Portobello until they were transferred to BioParque, Rio's zoo. Just over a month later, on December 14, five of them broke out of confinement. In the action to capture them, three giraffes died.
The deaths, however, were only communicated 50 days later, raising the suspicion of the authorities. The Federal Police and the Federal Prosecution Service opened inquiries and found out that the animals had been mistreated, had been removed from the wild, and had their importation process adulterated.
Translated by Cassy Dias