The Environmental Protection Department of the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro is investigating the appearance, in the last 15 days, of four capybaras shot dead in the Lagoas de Jacarepaguá region in the West zone of the city. According to complaints, the animals are being slaughtered to sell the meat at local fairs .
“Agents are carrying out efforts to identify those involved”, informed the State Secretariat of the Civil Police.
According to biologist Mário Moscatelli, who develops environmental projects in the region, the hunting situation in the Jacarepaguá lagoon system is recurrent. “There are times when it calms down, but then it intensifies. The information we have, but I have no way of knowing whether this is the case or not, is that the animals are hunted and the meat is sold in markets in the Jacarepaguá lowland,” said Moscatelli.
According to the biologist, after being injured, the animals are still in agony and, when they are not removed from the area, they end up dying. . “In the last 15 days we found four animals dead with perforations, typical of this situation, that is, shot. Animals do not die immediately. Capture is complicated for a number of reasons, and the animal ends up dying,” he said.
The biologist warned that violence against animals is an environmental crime and that the situation is worsening because the meat cannot be consumed. “Firstly, it is an environmental crime because hunting is prohibited in Brazil. Second, the meat is contaminated by cyanotoxins produced by cyanobacteria due to the historical degradation of the lagoon system ”, he added.
Moscatelli emphasized that meat cannot be eaten even if it is cooked, fried or boiled . “It’s no use. The toxin is impregnated in the meat, and the person who is buying and eating the meat, whether alligator or capybara, is contaminating themselves.” He warned that anyone who eats the meat will not feel anything for a while, because the toxin is cumulative. “You do not eliminate this toxin, either through feces or urine. It accumulates in some organ until a more serious problem occurs”, he drew attention.
In addition to the investigations by the Civil Police, the biologist highlighted that, in the last two or three days, the Military Environmental Police started to operate in the lagoon system. “What, in my view, needs to be understood by environmental agencies is that the work involves intelligence, in the sense of identifying who the people are, who is selling and who is buying. It also requires permanent management. I’ve been requesting this for, I think, 20 years.”
The biologist proposes permanent management, with the optimization of resources from the Municipal Department of the Environment, through its environmental guard, the State Department of the Environment, with the Military Police, and that the lagoons are, in fact, policed. “It is necessary, because it is no man’s land, no man’s pond, where everyone does what they want with the local natural resources.”
Moscatelli also highlighted that, with projects to recover the presence of capybaras, alligators and many other species in the region, these animals represent essential environmental economic assets for the location to become one of the most important ecotourism hubs for the city of Rio de Janeiro , in addition to Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, in the south zone.
“These animals are worth much more alive than dead. For this to be understood by some people, the strength of state and municipal power is necessary. Identify, arrest, show that the cost-benefit ratio will be very high for the person who is doing this, in terms of the potential benefit that this person could have by killing and selling the animals”, he highlighted.
A week ago, in the same region, there were reports that alligators were being captured and slaughtered. The reason would also be the sale of animal meat.
This content was originally published in Capybara maniac: RJ police search for criminal who kills animals and sells meat at the fair on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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