Quito (AFP) – Parrots, monkeys, snakes and even jaguars have been seized from so-called “narco-zoos” in Ecuador, the private collections of powerful drug traffickers. The country has become a key logistical hub for cocaine exports to the United States and Europe and the exotic animal trend coincides with a rise in drug-related violence, according to police. The animals are bought as a show of “purchasing power, economic capacity” explains Darwin Robles, chief of the police environmental protection unit.
