Seizure of the largest taxidermy operations in Europe
The police found a huge warehouse containing stuffed animals.
Reuters
Spanish police have made one of the biggest discoveries of stuffed animals in Europe while investigating possible smuggling, after finding a huge warehouse in Valencia that contained stuffed animals, including rhinos, polar bears and elephants.
The Civil Guard said in a statement yesterday that it had discovered more than 1,000 samples in an industrial warehouse with an area of 50,000 square meters in Petera, Valencia, last Wednesday.
The collection of stuffed animals includes more than 400 protected species, some of which are extinct, such as the bow-horned oryx, or critically endangered, such as the Bengal tiger.
Other species include lions, tigers, leopards, and lynxes.
Police said the warehouse owner is under investigation for smuggling and crimes related to plants and animals, but he has not been arrested.
Investigators estimate the value of the stuffed animals to be 29 million euros ($32 million).
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