MIAMI — Two Miami men were arrested early Sunday morning after deputies in the Florida Keys found an endangered Key deer in their car during a traffic stop, according to authorities.
Yoankis Hernandez Pena, 38, and Andres Leon Valdes, 45, face charges of animal cruelty and taking, possessing or selling a federally designated endangered or threatened species, county jail records show. They were in custody as of Sunday afternoon awaiting their bond hearing, Adam Linhardt, spokesman for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, told the Miami Herald.
At 1:56 a.m., deputies stopped a blue Chevrolet hatchback-style car on U.S. 1 near mile marker 56 in Marathon that was “failing to stay in its lane,” the agency said in a news release. When the deputies walked over to the car, they say an injured Key deer was spotted on top of a cooler and some lawn chairs in the vehicle.
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