In the early morning, a team of young biologists drives off to start their shift at the Joya Grande zoo. They are tasked with supporting the remaining zookeepers in repairing damaged cages and helping to improve the living conditions of the animals once legally and illegally imported by “the previous owners”: Central America’s most powerful drug traffickers, the Cachiros.
“We are here to restore what we can and try to keep a zoo together that was not designed or built by professionals,” says Lourdes Alvarado, a wildlife management technician and leader of the team of biologists from the Honduran National Institute of Forest Conservation (ICF). “Our only focus is to ensure these animals live dignified lives in captivity.”
