THE Guardia Civil’s annual ‘Atrax’ campaign to combat the illegal killing of animals in mainly rural Spain has led to 62 people being either arrested or investigated following over 500 inspections.
665 animals were found to have been poisoned or hunted with illegal methods during the Guardia’s 2025 initiative.
91 criminal offences were discovered during inspections- mostly down to hunting offences such as poaching and the use of prohibited methods like traps.
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351 administrative offences were also logged, again mainly breaches of hunting regulations including trapping in protected areas.
During visits to farms, tool sheds and hunting reserves, 91% of the dead animals were birds including 35 red kites, four black vultures, three imperial eagles, and a golden eagle.
In total, 100 poisoned baits have been seized along with 669 banned means of hunting – including 215 snares, 44 traps and 364 ribs, hangers and tiles.
Officers also removed 230 kilos of prohibited phytosanitary products used to make poisons as well as eight firearms and 11 accessories prohibited for hunting, such as silencers and night vision scopes.
The ‘Atrax’ campaign has been aimed at both prevention and deterrence, as well as the investigation of specific events of special relevance.
One of the main objectives has been to end non-selective hunting methods that cause a serious threat to biodiversity due to their indiscriminate nature which can harm all species in the ecosystem where they are applied.
They can even infiltrate the food chain, with a potential risk to human health, according to the Guardia.
Visits included one to a farm in the El Baracot area of Alicante province where officers removed over 400 rodenticide tablets and nine kilos of the stored product.
They poison was being used on rabbit burrows.
In another inspection- this time at Antequera in Malaga, 44 snares were found in a hunting reserve, where two foxes had been caught.
The perpetrators were identified and charged for using a prohibited method of hunting.
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