By Chris King • Updated: 09 Apr 2022 • 5:02
Image: guardia civil
Officers of the Guardia Civil’s Nature Protection Service (Seprona) in the city of Valencia, have placed one of the sons of the well-known late Valencian businessman Francisco Ros Casares under investigation. The search of a home uncovered around 200 pieces of taxidermy, and complete stuffed animals.
Seprona was assisted in this operation by officers from the Central Operational Environmental Unit (Ucoma). Together, they confiscated these hunting trophies that were being kept in the investigated person’s home.
This event occurred on Wednesday, April 6, in a property located in the Valencian Community municipality of Betera. According to information made available to laopiniondemalaga.es, some of the animals were in the house, but most were in a building used as a warehouse, within the huge plot on which both buildings stand.
Among the stuffed specimens there are some of great value, such as African lions, Bengal tigers, white rhinos, and even giraffes, as well as dozens of elephant tusks. All these specimens belong to threatened and protected species, for which the investigated person – who was not detained – is charged with a crime against flora and fauna.
A report will now be carried out by the Seprona officers after they made a full inventory of all the stuffed trophies and items in the property. Their final report will be used to confirm the degree of protection afforded to these species, to determine possible crimes, which will be investigated by a court in the town of Lliria.
The investigated is the son of Francisco Ros Casares, the former president of Valencia CF, who owned a steel empire, and passed away in 2014. An investigation had been launched by the Guardia Civil after they received a confidential tip-off about this collection of exotic stuffed animals, that put them on the trail of the son of Mr Ros Casares.
With the advice of Ucoma, Seprona launched their investigation, and, after verifying the veracity of the information received, decided to request a court order to access the home and confiscate the specimens of protected species. The pieces remain in the warehouse, under a judicial deposit.
Most of the animals were clearly hunted on safaris in Africa, although there were also specimens of native fauna, such as deer, or wild boar, as reported by laopiniondemalaga.es.
For more news on the Valencian Community: https://www.euroweeklynews.com/news/spain/valencia-news
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Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com
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