Arms flailing and menace in her eyes, the woman charges me from behind a pile of cages. I heard her husband say something about giving her a cuchillo—a knife. "No photos!" she yells in Spanish. "Don't take photos! Get out of here!" I back away slowly. We are in Xochimilco, a lively, outdoor market in Mexico City, where this woman is running a puesto, or stand for selling animals. She has stacks of animals in cages all around her, like walls of living creatures. In her cages are yellow-cheeked Amazons and orange-fronted parakeets—native Mexican parrots, caught in the wild.
Defenders Magazine
Spring 2009
Volume 84, Issue 2
Articles
Things are looking up for threatened grizzlies—in some places
Are Florida's iconic and endangered marine mammals truly on the rebound?
Few sights inspire me more than watching the waters of Big Timber Creek tumble down the Crazy Mountains near my ranch in south-central Montana.
Finding a mate is a risky business. There can be rivals to fight and family members to win over. And there's always the chance of catching a disease like rabies—if you're an Ethiopian wolf, that is.