Bison butchery pinned on wildlife park director
When two bison were found decapitated at a Spanish nature park, police initially believed that trophy hunters were behind the savage butchery.
They suspected that the protected animals had been poisoned before their heads were removed, in a crime that shocked the country.
The investigation has taken an unexpected turn, however, with the arrest of the head of the wildlife park, who has been accused of allowing the animals to starve to death.
Carlos Alamo, the director of Valdeserrillas Nature Park near Valencia, allegedly cut off the animals’ heads and planted poison pellets to put police off the trail.
He has appeared in court accused of negligence after a postmortem investigation revealed that the animals had starved to death.
Police said they were also suspicious because Alamo discovered the bodies of both animals.
Alamo has denied the charge of mistreating the animals through negligence.
When the European bisons’ bodies were found last month, Alamo took to social media to condemn the killing of the animals. They were brought to Spain from Britain and Ireland under a reintroduction programme funded by the European Union.
The headless corpse of Sauron, an 800-kilogram male, was found a week before that of a second male, called Troll.
The European bison once roamed across the continent, but was hunted into extinction in the wild by 1927.
Captive bison have since been bred, and about 5500 now live in the wild across Europe, according to the World Wildlife Fund. It is the continent’s largest wild land mammal.
The Valdeserillas park is a sanctuary for bison, deer and birds of prey, and offers safaris for tourists. The owner, a private company, had hoped to bring in female bison to allow the animals to reproduce and expand the herd, but the plan has been cancelled.