CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (NEWSnet/AP) — After a campaign by environmentalists, Benito the giraffe left Mexico's northern border and its extreme weather conditions Sunday and headed for a conservation park in central Mexico, where climate is more akin to his natural habitat.

Environmental groups had voiced complaints about conditions at Central Park zoo in Ciudad Juarez, near El Paso, Texas, where weather in the summer is brutally hot and temperature plunges during the winter.

A crane carefully lifted a container holding the giraffe onto a truck as city resident said goodbye.

Benito headed on a journey of 1,200 miles, about 50 hours, to his new home, African Safari park in the state of Puebla.

The container, more than 16 feet high, was designed specifically for Benito, and the giraffe was allowed to become familiar with it, said Frank Carlos Camacho, director of the park.

The animal's head sticks through the top of the box, but a frame allows a tarp to cover over Benito and insulate him from the cold, wind, rain, noise and the sight of landscape.

“The giraffe has huge, huge eyes and gains height to be able to look for predators in the savannah and we have to inhibit that so that it does not have any source of stress,” Camacho said in a video posted on social media.

Inside the container is straw, alfalfa, water and vegetables. Electronic equipment will monitor the temperature and allow technicians to talk to the animal.

“He’s going to be calm, he’s going to travel super well. We’ve done this many times,” Camacho said.

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