The Guardia Civil has reported a person for allegedly having 18 European turtle specimens — Testudo hermanni — in the garden of their home in Sant Llorenç des Cardassar, with 14 of them alive and four already deceased but with their shells preserved.
The investigation began after the Armed Institute was notified that a private property could be in illegal possession of protected species, as explained by the Guardia Civil in a statement.
Agents from the Nature Protection Service (Seprona) went to the location, where they found the specimens in the garden of the residence, without the owner being able to prove their legal origin or have the corresponding documentation or administrative authorizations.
Once seized, the turtles were transferred by the agents to the Consortium for the Recovery of Wildlife in the Balearic Islands (Cofib), to check their health status and be placed in an outdoor land facility awaiting a judicial resolution for their future reintroduction into the natural environment by the Species Protection Service of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Natural Environment.
Days later, procedures began to investigate the alleged perpetrator of the events for a supposed crime against flora and fauna due to the possession of protected species, as well as being proposed for a sanction for a serious violation of current regulations on the conservation of wildlife and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The Mediterranean turtle is a protected species, included in the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified as «vulnerable.»
It is found in Article 54 of Law 42/2007 on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity, by RD 139/2011, for the development of the List of Wild Species under Special Protection Regime and the Spanish Catalog of Endangered Species, and classified as under Special Protection Regime in the Catalog of Endangered Species of the Balearic Islands of 2025.
At the European level, it is included in the Habitats Directive 92/43 EEC (A2, A4) and in Annex II of the Bern Convention. Under the CITES convention, Testudo hermanni is included in Appendix II, as well as in Annex A of Council Regulation (EC) 338/97.
This action is part of the ongoing efforts of Seprona to preserve biodiversity and combat the illegal trafficking and possession of endangered species, especially in sensitive areas like the Balearic Islands.
FUENTE