In Spain, 4,902 cases of crimes committed against protected species of fauna were registered between 2015 and 2020, which led to the death of at least 8,784 animals. This is the conclusion of the most exhaustive analysis carried out to date, promoted by the WWF organization and prepared together with the International Center for Environmental Law Studies (CIEDA-CIEMAT), the University of Granada (UGR) and the Institute of Advanced Social Studies ( IESA-CSIC).
However, most of them go unpunished. According to the investigation, only 327 judicial sentences were produced for causes of crimes against fauna, which is equivalent to 6.67% of the cases. In other words, 93% of cases do not reach trial.
The most frequent sentences were for possession of illegal hunting and fishing gear (213 sentences), illegal sale of wildlife (32 sentences) and use of poison (26 sentences), according to the results of this investigation, which was prepared based on to the data obtained from requests for information to the autonomous communities.
WWF warns that this information is only the “tip of the iceberg”, because most cases go undetected. For example, it is estimated that just one of these crimes (the use of poison in the field) accounts for the death of around ten thousand animals each year and that only between 10 and 15% of the cases come to light. poisoning. And the organization recalls that crimes against wildlife are devastating to biodiversity, especially when they affect threatened species.
Few crimes against wildlife are prosecuted. According to WWF research, there were only 327 judicial sentences from the 4,902 cases of crimes against wildlife registered in Spain (6.67% of the cases). Therefore, 93% of cases are not prosecuted, despite their seriousness, and most are resolved administratively (with a fine, for example) or unresolved.
The most frequent crimes are poaching (1,773 cases), poisoning (1,899 cases) and the use or possession of illegal capture methods (446). Impunity is especially high in cases of illegal hunting: only 0.8% of registered cases ended in a court ruling.
"Although much progress has been made in this field in recent years, the high degree of impunity that continues to exist in our country and the critical state of biodiversity globally shows us that much remains to be done," laments Silvia Díaz, Technical of the Species Program of WWF Spain and Coordinator of the SWiPE project.
Despite the fact that Spain has become a benchmark in monitoring and reporting these cases, WWF calls for increased cooperation between all the agents involved and promote the training of judges specialized in crimes against wildlife, something that does exist in other countries.
