A 22-year-old man was apprehended this Sunday in the city of Mar del Plata, accused of having stolen a capybara in the nature reserve Los Padres Lagoon and keep him in captivity for two weeks, police sources reported.
Police sources indicated that the incident was reported at the 14th Police Station, with jurisdiction in the reserve area located 15 kilometers west of Plat Seaa, by a woman who was walking by the place.
The theft of the animal had been reported on May 22, and after a raid in the San Martín neighborhood of the seaside resort, the specimen, known by the locals of the lagoon as “El Toti”, was returned to its natural habitat.
According to the complaint, a man and a woman “they pounced on a capybara and covered him with a blanket and then put him in a van“.
Based on this information and the analysis of cameras in the area, it was possible to determine in which house the animal was found.
The prosecutor who intervened in the case, Alejandro Pellegrinelli, head of the Functional Instruction Unit 5, requested the trespassing of the property, which was authorized by the Guarantee Justice.
In addition to police officers, park rangers intervened in the procedure, carried out on Sunday afternoon, managed to rescue the animalwho remained locked in a cage in the patio of the house.
The prosecutor ordered that the capybara be returned to its natural habitat, and the defendant was charged with the crime of “theft“.
