Mexico seizes jaguar that was being walked in a park

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s environmental protection agency seized a nearly full-grown jaguar that had been walked on a leash in a park in the city of Culiacan, considered the nation’s capital of drug trafficking.

The agency said Wednesday that while the animal appeared healthy and had papers, it was being held in inadequate conditions — a fenced area about the size of a small dog run.

Photos posted on social media showed a young woman walking the cat on a leash.

In June, photos circulated in Culiacan of a tiger being driven in a pickup truck. And in January, authorities found a tiger cub on the streets of a nearby city.

Mexican drug traffickers have been known to keep big cats, though there’s no evidence the jaguar’s owner had any criminal ties.