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Mayte Amorós
Palma
Thursday, 17 April 2025, 07:31
Guardia Civil officers on the Spanish holiday island of Mallorca have arrested a Russian couple, 46 and 48, for their involvement in a criminal network trafficking protected animal species. The couple, based in the town of Ariany, owned a plot of land where they bred servals and caracals, which they crossed with domestic cats. The aim was to obtain hybrid animals with a tempered feral character that would then be sold on the black market for large sums of money. One of the advertisements offered a clouded leopard for 60,000 euros.
Upon searching the couple's property on 8 April, police officers found a caracal, two servals and 16 felines of varying degrees of hybridisation. The animals were temporarily placed in the Son Servera Safari Zoo until the Ministry of Ecological Transition (Miteco) relocates them permanently to Prima Domus in Alicante.
The couple did not have a breeder's licence not any kind of document to authorise sales. During the search, the police also seized an abundant amount of documentation that is currently being analysed: 40 animal passports from Russia, Belarus and China, two computers, three mobile phones and two pen drives.
This breeding point in Mallorca was only "the tip of the iceberg". According to investigators working on Operation Kotach, launched in Valencia in March last year, an international criminal network involving breeders, transporters and veterinarians has also been uncovered. This network was carrying out the commercialisation of protected species such as white tigers, black leopards and pumas.
Most of the animals for sale originated from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, but were smuggled into the EU across the Polish-Belarusian border and, from there, distributed with false documentation. In addition to the couple arrested in Mallorca, there is a third person under investigation, a 48-year-old man of Israeli origin. All three have been accused of crimes against wildlife, smuggling, false documentation and criminal organisation.
The investigation related to Operation Kotach found that several breeders had managed to hybridise the protected felines with domestic cats, despite lack of sterility and the risk of death due to premature births. In addition, both caracals and servals used domestic cats as prey and not as mating partners, killing or seriously injuring them. "They are very aggressive species and need a lot of space," said police officers, warning that some people buy them and get rid of them later down the line, which creates more danger. Prices for a first generation caracal or serval hybrid went for 18,000 euros, well above the pure species (8,000 euros).
The Guardia Civil stated that attempts to breed and keep these felines as pets is a widespread practice in Russia and Ukraine, with other countries following suit.
These animals are protected by the CITES convention, which concerns the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade within the EU. Hybridised animals are protected by the CITES convention up to the fourth generation.
The proceedings have been transferred to a court in Manacor.
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