Animal welfare
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Seville
Tuesday, 10 September 2024, 18:30
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Guardia Civil officers have thwarted a group of illegal hunters in Écija, near Seville in the Andalucía region of Spain, seizing 75 dead European turtle doves in the process.
Hunting the species is prohibited for the 2024-2025 season, but the birds were shot at the end of August, landing the illegal hunters in hot water. Officers from the Guardia Civil's Seprona nature and animal welfare unit discovered the group of hunters in the area of the La Moranilla river.
Officers located three people, two of whom were hiding in the river bed. One of them was detained with 45 turtle doves in a bag, while the others hunters managed to escape in two vehicles.
In a vehicle left at the scene, officers found two hunting rifles, while on the opposite bank of the river, they found a second bag with 30 dead turtle doves and a shotgun.
The arrested hunter confessed to shooting the first 45 turtledoves, although he claimed the other 30 were shot by those who fled. He also told police the shotgun found with abandoned hunting equipment was his, although he said he had lent it to one of those who fled.
Following the operation, the Guardia Civil confiscated the shot doves, which were sent to the Junta de Andalucía's centre for the recovery of endangered species (CREA) as food for animals recovering at the facility.
Police are investigating the whereabouts of the other two hunters involved.
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