Spain probes personal taxidermy museum with 1,000 animals

Spain’s Civil Guard on Sunday stated it was investigating a businessman within the jap Valencia area who owned a non-public taxidermy assortment with greater than 1,000 stuffed animals, together with simply over 400 from protected species and not less than one specimen of a North African oryx, already extinct.

Spain’s Civil Guard says it’s investigating a businessman within the jap Valencia area who held a non-public taxidermy assortment with greater than 1,000 stuffed animals, together with simply over 400 from protected species and not less than a specimen of a North African oryx already extinct. (AP)

The assortment would fetch 29 million euros (USD31.5 million) on the black market, a Civil Guard assertion stated, including that its proprietor might be charged with trafficking and different crimes in opposition to the atmosphere.

It stated the discovering was the most important of protected stuffed specimens in Spain.

Investigating brokers discovered the stuffed animals in two warehouses extending over 50,000 sq. metres on the outskirts of Bétera, a small city north of the jap coastal metropolis of Valencia.

Of the 1,090 stuffed animals discovered, 405 belonged to specimens protected by the CITES conference on wildlife safety.

They included the scimitar oryx, also called the Sahara oryx, which the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, declared extinct within the wild in 2000, and not less than two extra species practically extinct: the addax, or white antelope, initially from the Sahara desert and the Bengal tiger.

The brokers additionally recorded stuffed specimens of cheetah, leopard, lion, lynx, polar bear, snow panther and white rhinoceros, amongst others, in addition to 198 giant ivory tusks from elephants.

The Civil Guard stated it might examine whether or not any paperwork exist justifying the possession of the gathering.