Spanish hunter fined100,000 euro for shooting a female lynx in Toledo
The man claimed he mistook the feline, an endangered species in Spain, for a fox while hunting out-of-season and with no permit
J.M.L.
Wednesday, 25 March 2026, 14:06
The Criminal Court No.3 of Toledo has sentenced a hunter to pay 100,800 euros in compensation to the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha for killing an Iberian lynx in 2019 in the La Batinosa hunting reserve in Menasalbas (Toledo).
He is also banned from engaging in any hunting-related activities for three years.
The court found it proven that the hunter had killed a female lynx called Nenúfar and was therefore gulity ofcrime against wildlife due to gross negligence.
Nenúfar had been released in the Montes de Toledo mountain area in February 2017 as part of the species' reintroduction programme. She was fitted with a radio transmitter for tracking purposes.
Two years later, her bullet-riddled body was discovered by an environmental agent from the Castilla-La Mancha regional government. He also found one of her young offspring dead from starvation.
The events occurred in June 2019 when the now-convicted man was hunting without a valid licence and out of the hunting season. During the trial, the Junta for Castilla-La Mancha initially sought 500,000 euros in compensation for the high cost of public money spent in raising and reintroducing the lynx into the wild.
However, the final amount was reduced to 100,800 euros for the killing of the lynx and one of her kittens. The hunting association involved in the case, against which some of the prosecution had sought subsidiary civil liability, was acquitted. Furthermore, the prosecution had requested a three-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from hunting.
The hunter was arrested by the Guardia Civil following an investigation by the Guardia's nature protection service (Seprona) that was focused on the people who regularly frequented that hunting reserve.
He claimed that he shot the animal with his shotgun because he mistook it for a fox, as he was participating in a fox hunt. The female lynx that he killed was caring for a litter of four two-month-old kittens at the time. Her young were left helpless and possibly all died because the mother was unable to care for them. Only the body of one was found.
