Judge Dismisses Amparo Petition by Animalandia Maya Defendants

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — A federal judge has dismissed an amparo petition filed by the owner of Animalandia Maya, leaving him and his four employees under prosecution in an animal cruelty case stemming from a raid on the wildlife attraction last spring.

The Ninth District Court threw out the constitutional appeal brought by Félix N against the Public Ministry of the Common Jurisdiction at the State Prosecutor’s Office’s Detained Persons Control Unit. Court records list the dismissal under case file 485/2026, though officials have published only the procedural agreements reached in the matter, not the full ruling.

Félix N filed the petition days after he and four coworkers were arrested on May 1 during an operation that ended with the closure of Animalandia Maya, a business on Quinta Avenida that exhibited wild animals, mainly big cats.

The five men — identified in court records as Félix N, Cristian N, Ever N, Martín N and Johan N — are under investigation for acts that may constitute animal cruelty. According to investigators, the business sold photographs of visitors posing with the felines on display, and inspectors found products unfit for animal feed during the search.

Authorities seized the following animals from the site:

• A tigrillo, a juvenile white tiger, a Bengal tiger, an African lion, a white tiger cub and a black jaguar cub
• Two capuchin monkeys, three spider monkeys, two squirrel monkeys, two kinkajous and a cotton-top tamarin

The animals were transferred to a Wildlife Management Unit (UMA) at Aktun Chen Park in Akumal so they could receive the care they needed. The Animalandia Maya site has remained closed since the operation.