Police have raided a clandestine animal breeding farm that included tigers, pumas and various antelopes which they suspect were being sold to hunters.
Video footage shows officials approaching the property hidden behind thick shrubbery and once inside find cages with hundreds of animals in cramped, filthy conditions.
They also found over 27 hunting trophies made from killed animals on the property in the area of Balcarce in the eastern Argentine province of Buenos Aires.
The Environment Ministry of Argentina said it has opened an investigation on the suspicion that all or some of the animals were being sold for illegal hunting. The raid was carried out after an anonymous tipoff.
They said that the over 300 animals included two tigers, 14 red deer, 12 antelopes, six chital deer or axis deer, 57 fallow deers (48 adults and nine offspring), one guanaco, 10 pumas (eight adults and two offspring) 20 common peafowl, one wild cat, one llama, 150 European mouflon, two rheas, nine wild boars, one chestnut wood quail, one turquoise-fronted amazon, one yellow cardinal, one ultramarine grosbeak, one blue-and-yellow tanager, one European goldfinch, one saffron finch, three double-collared seedeater, and two red-crested cardinals.
The illegal breeding farm even had a blackbird in a cage and two starlings in another alongside all the other exotic animals.
They said that the illegal farm was breaching regulations by owning many of the animals in the first place, as well as not keeping them in proper conditions and also illegally trading wild animals.
Investigators are trying to find out if the animals were being used for the hunting trade.
Among the trophies, the police seized was puma leather as well as various horns and stuffed heads from different species of deer and antelope.
It is unclear where the animals came from, however, they are looking at possible links to the Sierra de los Padres ecological park.
The investigation is ongoing.
Items found in the property 
Items found in the property
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Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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