Massive Coiba Park cattle slaughter but no steaks for Panama

Over 2,500 cattle  are to be slaughtered in Coiba National Park, but none of the meat will enter Panama’s food chain.

The national environmental authority Anam has announced a plan for eliminating the wild cattle living in the Park.

They  were introduced to the island when it was used as a prison, to provide food for the inmates.

 The animals will be slaughtered on the island, and their carcasses removed which  will mean that the meat will not be able to be sold for human consumption.

 The move is takig place because Unesco had threatened to remove Coiba from its list of World Heritage Sites if the cattle were not removed. In Casco Viejo  in Panama City, residents are are fighting to save its designation as a World Heritage site, as the government moves to build a multi lane highway around the old city.

Juan Maté, a specialist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, one of the agencies involved in developing the  Coiba plan, said that the original plan called for the cattle to be slaughtered so that the meat could be used, but it was decided that the plan would not be feasible.

The slaughter  will be implemented over the next two months.

Anam official Jeremías Aguilar said that the agency has started tracking the animals so they can be rounded up.