Wild animals occupy officers
Snakes and ladders are all in a day’s work for officers
THE GUARDIA Civil environmental protection service (SEPRONA) has been kept busy with incidents related to wild animals in Alicante province.
Officers inspecting premises in an Elche industrial estate confiscated two Vietnamese pigs, which are classified as an invasive species, and a wild boar that had been caught illegally and kept as a pet.
According to a spokesman for the force, the wild boar seemed to have been caught with a net during an unlicensed hunt.
Kept in a cage, it had injuries to its snout that were probably a result of stress caused by being locked up.
Possession of Vietnamese pigs was prohibited in March 2019 because their wild population has increased uncontrollably and caused extensive damage to ecosystems in recent years. Officers filed reports accusing the owner of violating legislation on hunting, natural heritage, owning invasive species and animal health, as well as lacking the licences required to be a zoological centre and keep poultry for selfsustenance.
The boar was handed over to the wild animal recovery centre in Santa Faz. Alicante, and the pigs will be looked after by the regional department for ecological transition.
Another intervention took place in Algueña, inland of the Hondón valley by the Murcia border, where a ‘very nervous’ resident had called because his grandchildren had found a snake while they were playing in the yard of their house.
It turned out to be a ladder snake, which the spokesman said are common around the Mediterranean and not considered venomous, but can bite if threatened.
Officers found it under one of the roof tiles and managed to get it out using a pole, neutralised it and then returned it to its natural environment.