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Benito the giraffe starts his long journey to a better home in central Mexico
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After a campaign in Mexico to save Benito the giraffe from extreme temperatures and a small enclosure in Ciudad Juarez, the animal was finally moved to a more spacious conservation park in Puebla. A crane carefully lifted a special container with the giraffe onto a truck, while some residents and activists said goodbye to an animal that conquered the hearts of the city. The journey is set to last approximately 50 hours. "We are a bit sad that he is leaving because as Ciudad Juárez residents we are used to coming to visit our giraffe," said Flor Ortega, 23, a resident of Ciudad Juárez. "But we are also very happy because he is an animal in captivity and it shouldn't be like that," she added. The transfer could not have come at a better time, just when a new cold front is about to hit the region. An animal collective had been warning for 10 days that the giraffe was freezing. Benito, a 4-year-old male and Mexico's most famous giraffe, will find his new home some 2,000 kilometers away, at the Africam Safari Park in the central state of Puebla. The trailer, more than five meters high, was specially designed for the animal. Benito became familiar with it throughout the weekend, as could be seen in the videos posted by the park's director, Frank Carlos Camacho, on social networks. However, those traveling the highways of northern Mexico on Monday will not see a giraffe's head sticking out of a truck, because while the top of the trailer is an open metal structure, it is covered by a tarp that insulates Benito. Inside the container there will be straw, alfalfa, water and vegetables, but also closed-circuit cameras, temperature control devices and loudspeakers that will even allow technicians to talk to the animal. Benito lived in a small park at extreme temperatures, both in winter and summer. Sometimes the animal could be seen crouching in search of a little shade, which did little to protect him from the sun, rain or hail. Upon arrival in Puebla, Benito will have to undergo a quarantine, a process to adapt him to a new diet and he will be in an environment much more similar to the African savannah. AP video shot by Alicia Fernandez
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WBNS