A campaign to save Benito the giraffe from extreme temperatures and a small enclosure at the city-run Central Park in Mexico’s arid northern border city of Ciudad Juarez has finally paid off, with officials promising to move him to a more spacious animal park 2,000 km to the south.

Benito arrived in Ciudad Juarez, which is across the border from El Paso, Texas, in May 2023 as a 3-year-old, and since then has had to put up with the scorching desert sun with just a small patch of shade, as well as the winter cold and winds.