By Virginia Lopez
The Guardian
SABANETA, Venazuela — When armed police stormed a Venezuelan prison where 16 inmates had just been killed in rioting, they will not have been surprised to find assault rifles, hand grenades and a stash of plastic explosives.
But they will have been astonished to also discover a private menagerie consisting of pedigree dogs and jungle animals – including several endangered species.
Venezuelan jails – notorious for their dire conditions and overcrowding – are largely under the control of heavily armed inmates. The raid at Sabaneta prison, in the western state of Zulia, has however revealed the some of the prisoners were also avid wildlife collectors.
Among the animals being kept were an ocelot, several caymans, raccoons, and a couple of macaws, according to a regional newspaper, La Verdad.
More than a dozen farm animals were found, including turkeys, pigs and cows, as well as an unspecified number of purebred dogs, including pitbulls, neapolitan mastiffs, siberian huskies and yorkshire terriers. It is not known to which inmate or inmates the animals belonged.
Full story: Venezuela prison raid reveals inmates’ private menagerie