One arrested on Costa del Sol for illegal capture of protected bird species

The Guardia Civil’s nature protection group, Seprona, is investigating a person in Torrox on the eastern Costa del Sol for the illegal capture of protected bird species. The alleged perpetrator has been arrested in relation to crimes against wildlife for hunting, possessing and destroying wildlife using non-selective and legally prohibited means.

Information was received about an individual who was illegally capturing the birds in the town for subsequent sale at the end of 2025. After investigations to ascertain the identity of the perpetrator, the officers learned that this individual was a permanent resident on one of the two farms where he had installed prohibited trapping devices and that he was engaged in this type of practice on a continuous basis.

Four folding nets were detected, as well as a cage trap containing a live goldfinch used as bait and an invisible flight net installed, where a greenfinch was trapped. A total of 38 finches, including goldfinches, serins, linnets and greenfinches, protected species included in Annex II of the Bern Convention, were immediately released into the wild.

All the hunting equipment scattered around the land for illegal trapping was seized, as well as four other prohibited nets that were stored away, some of which were homemade and considered non-selective prohibited means.