As published in The Yucatan Times, employees of the pharmaceutical distribution company Marzam, in Umán, killed a white-tailed deer that, disoriented, entered the company’s parking lot, located near the Umán-Mérida federal highway.
The Marzam workers, instead of notifying the federal authorities, cornered and killed the deer, put him in a closed company truck, cut the animal in pieces, and split the meat.
AS the photographs were posted on Facebook, people expressed their outrage at the case and asked that the authorities to sanction those responsible.
The white-tailed deer is a species protected by the General Wildlife Law, which establishes that a permit from Semarnat is required to hunt it, through an Environmental Management Unit.
In May 2016, the Profepa delegation in Yucatan consigned nine people to the current Attorney General’s Office for illegal hunting of white-tailed deer.
Marzam reported that “on Wednesday, June 3 at 3:51 p.m., a deer entered the maneuvering yard of our branch in Mérida and the personnel working in that area made an inappropriate handling of the situation and tried to catch it, to later release it, but unfortunately the animal was killed.
“At Marzam, our essence is to connect the population with health, and respect for life and well-being is one of our pillars, which of course encompasses all living beings in our environment. For this reason, we deeply regret the death of this animal and we disapprove the actions taken by those responsible, whose understandable ignorance of the appropriate procedures does not justify the way in which they treated this living being”.
“As soon as we have become aware of this situation, we have taken clear and forceful measures, consistent with our character as a socially responsible company committed to our society and our environment”.
“In this sense, we reiterate our most genuine apology to the Yucatecan community for this incident that involves the loss of a life as valuable as any other”.
“We are doing everything necessary to clarify the facts, disclaim any responsibility and take the necessary measures to prevent a similar situation from reoccurring”.
“We are in the process of gathering all the information as part of an internal investigation, which also includes the suspension of the allegedly responsible personnel until the competent authorities determine their legal status”.
“In this sense, we emphasize our willingness to collaborate with the authorities to expand the clarification of the facts and, under strict adherence to the rights of those involved, determine their legal status and act according to the law,” said the company, on a statement.
