The Service for the Protection of Nature (SEPRONA) of the Spanish Guardia Civil dismantled a criminal network that for more than a year illegally killed predators in a hunting area in the city of Cuenca.
According to the information shared by authorities on social media, “Operation LINCU” resulted in the arrest of three individuals, the indictment of two legal entities (businesses or associations, not specified) and the seizure of five firearms, ammunition and non-selective and illegal hunting equipment, including poisons, snares and other traps.
In addition, SEPRONA also collected carcasses of species protected by Spanish law, such as the wildcat (Felix silvestris), the Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) and the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus).
All indications point to the criminals dedicating themselves to the “systematic elimination” of wild predators to reduce competition with hunters, promote smaller game, such as birds and small mammals, and, in this way, increase the economic returns of the hunting area.
SEPRONA explains that, besides being criminal, the elimination of predators is ineffective, as it produces the opposite effect. And it gives as the example the Iberian lynx: “the presence of the Iberian lynx drives away other small predators, such as foxes and Egyptian mongooses, which balances the ecosystem and promotes the growth of rabbit and partridge populations”.
