A couple in Texas has been arrested after allegedly selling a margay cub and attempting to sell a jaguar cub in the first case charged under the Big Cat Public Safety Act, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Rafael Gutierrez-Galvan, 29, and his wife, Deyanira Garza, 28, both of Alamo, appeared in federal court in McAllen on Wednesday, the Justice Department said in a news release.
According to the criminal complaint, Gutierrez-Galvan sold a margay cub last month for $7,500 in a parking lot of a sporting goods store.
The Big Cat Public Safety Act was enacted last December and bans the importation, sale and possession of prohibited wildlife species, such as tigers, jaguars and leopards. Jaguars are also listed as an endangered and are therefore protected under the 50-year-old Endangered Species Act.
Thank you Tiger King?
Guess I won’t be getting the random alerts that a tiger got loose in Houston anymore.
Somehow I was mere streets away both times lmao.
If not friend, why friend shaped?
Should every big cat in captivity be spayed/neutered?
Could we have waited for the Jaguar to eat them first?
No.
If the Jaguar were to harm a human, it would be put down.
