More Than 1,500 Animals Died in Five Years: Inside Mexico City’s Chapultepec Zoo

Looking for things to do in Mexico City? Skip Chapultepec Zoo.

Located in Mexico City’s Chapultepec Park, Chapultepec Zoo confines nearly 2,000 animals from hundreds of species, including a giant panda named Xin Xin. 

PETA Latino went inside the facility and documented animals pacing repeatedly, animals who looked thin or in poor health, and animals wasting away in small enclosures littered with feces and dirty water.

If you’re in the area, spend your time exploring the park’s walking trails, visiting Chapultepec Castle, or discovering the city’s many museums instead of visiting a facility where 1,505 animals died between 2018 and 2023 alone.

What you’re about to read offers dozens of reasons why the animals trapped at Chapultepec Zoo urgently need YOU to speak up. Share their story, demand that the Mexican zoo evaluate the animals and take immediate steps to improve their conditions, and urge others to do the same.

Animals Driven to Despair

Instead of roaming vast territories, exploring complex environments, and making their own choices, animals at Chapultepec Zoo spend their days tracing the same paths while visitors gawk at them. Investigators saw:

• A monkey repeatedly banging against the glass of an enclosure.
• A Mexican gray wolf, a Bengal tiger, foxes, and a snow leopard repeatedly walking in circles in their enclosures.
• A bear pacing in a small space and panting with his tongue out.

These repetitive, seemingly purposeless behaviors are abnormal and are signs of psychological distress, likely caused by the stress, frustration, and deprived conditions of their confinement.

Severe Confinement and Unsanitary Enclosures

• A macaque housed alone, despite macaques being highly social animals who naturally live in large groups.
• Deer forced to drink from a stagnant, murky pond of brown water.
• More than 10 bison crowded into a single enclosure strewn with accumulated feces.
• A snake with barely enough room to move, even though these animals can travel hundreds of meters in a single day in nature. 

And it’s not just the filth or lack of space—Chapultepec denies many animals even a moment of peace. The lions, for example, can’t escape loud music, shouting, and other commotion from visitors because only a thin fence separates them from the crowds. These individuals deserve peace and autonomy, not a lifetime of sensory assault.

Apparently Underweight and Unwell Animals

Likely due to chronic stress and inadequate care, several animals at Chapultepec Zoo seem to be in poor health, including a macaque who suffers from significant hair loss.

PETA Latino also documented deer and oryx antelopes who appeared dangerously underweight, including at least one deer with visible ribs. These animals are adapted to roam and graze across expansive landscapes, yet Chapultepec Zoo confines them to barren enclosures with little but dirt underfoot.

The Death Toll Keeps Rising

The suffering investigators witnessed exists against a backdrop of staggering animal deaths.

Between October 2024 and December 2025, 279 animals died at the facility, accounting for nearly three-quarters of all animal deaths reported at zoos operated by the Mexico City government during that period. Two Humboldt penguins also died in 2025.

Chapultepec Calls Exploitation “Conservation”

Born at Chapultepec as part of the ramshackle zoo’s former giant panda breeding program, Xin Xin has spent her entire life far from the lush forests she should call home. That’s the problem with sham “conservation” programs: They exist just to breed more animals to exploit.

Exhibiting endangered species like giant pandas actually may actually hinder conservation efforts by giving the public a false sense of security about a species’ survival.

What Is PETA Latino Asking Chapultepec Zoo to Do?

PETA Latino is urgently calling for independent evaluations of animals showing signs of poor health, immediate improvements to habitats and veterinary care, and an end to the facility’s breeding programs.

How Can You Help Animals at Chapultepec Zoo?

While PETA Latino keeps the pressure on officials to take action, we need YOUR help.

Share this page, flood Chapultepec Zoo’s social media pages, and tell your friends and family to never visit an unaccredited facility that keeps animals in miserable conditions.