Science investigates an ornithologist from Doñana after allegations that he photographs women in bikinis without their permission

The Ministry of Science has launched an "urgent" investigation into the behavior of the famous ornithologist Luis García Garrido, 72, accused by a dozen people of photographing young volunteers in bikinis without permission, during days of marking waterfowl in marshes from Huelva and Seville.

García Garrido, a bearded man with long white hair considered by many to be a charismatic guru, worked at the Doñana Biological Station (CSIC) until his retirement in 2019, although he is still active in the field.

EL PAÍS has contacted six of these public complainants, who were victims or direct witnesses of these alleged practices, according to their accounts.

These women and men do not know each other and belong to different Spanish universities or other entities.

Field technician Ana Bernal lit the fuse on August 29 on her social networks.

“This man has recorded me.

Then we go with the Me Too [the movement born in the United States to publicly denounce macho behavior], but in Spain and in Doñana we continue with shame like this," he criticized, referring to Luis García and "his hobby of recording women."

Other young women joined the complaint in the following days.

One of them, who prefers that her name not be published in the press, remembers that in 2017 she went with the veteran ornithologist to mark grebes, some aquatic birds from the marshes.

"She insisted that I take off my clothes and stay in my underwear to get into the water, several times," says the woman.

“In the end, due to 'organization', I was alone with him and we drove around the marsh.

He stopped in the middle of the road and asked me to get in the [Land Rover] Defender to check some ropes.

When I turned around, I saw him with a camera in his hand recording my ass, ”she has denounced with her name and surname on her Facebook account.

“When we returned with the others, in the

, I saw him with the camera on walking between the cars recording the girls who were changing behind the doors.

I was 23 years old and I did not dare to say anything to him, ”she continues.

Everyone in Doñana knew this was happening

Lucia Izquierdo, ecologist

Luis García offers his version of the events in a telephone call made by this newspaper, which he cut off abruptly after three minutes.

“I take photos of birds, people… I have worked with thousands of volunteers throughout my life.

And, well, I'm sorry that this particular girl or these girls would have been offended by that,” he states.

“Perhaps she felt offended at that moment because she was taking photos, but I generally take photos of the event.

I have taught thousands of creatures in 40 years.

I'm not interested in any other story.

I haven't posted a single photo on the internet.

Not a single photo, of anyone, of anyone, ”he emphasizes.

The marshes of the Odiel and Guadalquivir rivers are a paradise away from civilization, a kind of Wild West with its own rules.

The founder of the Doñana Biological Station, José Antonio Valverde, met Luis García in 1971, when he was serving in the El Aaiún Artillery Zoo, then the capital of the Spanish Sahara.

García, the son of a marsh duck hunter, immediately joined the Station's technical team and became an "extraordinary field ornithologist", with a "responsible anarchism", whose motto was "Doñana soy yo", according to what he said. Valverde in his memoirs.

Since then, García has been the gateway to Doñana for several generations of biologists, but that door has not been equally open for all, according to the naturalist Benigno Varillas in a laudatory profile published in 2001: “Everyone considers that Luis It is the key to discover the Guadalquivir marsh that no one sees.

It is also known that Luis does not teach it easily, unless he is interested in it for some reason.

He can be a possible ally, some skirts, anything that appeals to him.”

The ecologist Lucía Izquierdo, from the University of Granada, remembers that she went with a friend at the age of 23 as a volunteer to a day of bird marking in Doñana, with Luis García.

The young women naturally wore bikinis, because they had to get into the water.

“When we got a little confused and we didn't look at him, he was taking pictures of me.

To me.

I think that, at the end of the day, this man had more photos of my ass than of the birds.

It was very unpleasant, ”laments her Izquierdo.

"Everyone in Doñana knew this was happening," says the ecologist.

Izquierdo remembers that they were in Luis García's SUV and ran into a limping flamingo.

The ornithologist stopped and caught it.

“He gave it to me to take pictures.

He did not give it to my friend, who was dressed, he gave it to me, who was in a bikini, ”he recalls.

The ecologist keeps a photograph taken by García that day.

“I go backwards.

The center of the photo is not the flamingo, it is my ass”, she explains.

"It makes me very sad, because in the end we are all scientists and we want to talk about science, but we have to be talking about this," she laments.

If there are indications that a criminal offense has occurred, we will inform the Prosecutor's Office

Zulema Altamirano, Ministry of Science

It is also easy to find colleagues who feel great affection for Luis García.

Biologist Charina Cañas, 60, worked with him in Doñana for more than two decades and describes him as an "endearing, hesitant and without malice" man, who likes to be surrounded by young women and take all kinds of "photographs artistic”.

In 2019, a hundred friends and colleagues gathered to say goodbye to Luis García for his retirement.

"He is a very dear person," says Cañas.

Biologist Lola Guitard, 43, has accompanied Luis García regularly since 2011, sometimes daily.

Guitard does not deny what the complainants experienced, but she describes a different experience.

“Personally, I have never felt any type of violent situation towards myself, nor have I secretly seen recordings,” she explains.

“Luis invites all kinds of people and records and takes photos of all the activity.

I have never perceived that his intention was to record someone in a bikini, ”says Guitard.

In her opinion, talking about sexual harassment is “an injustice”.

Environmentalologist Lidia López volunteered for three years at the Manecorro ringing station [marking of birds with metal rings], in the Doñana National Park, in Huelva.

“Luis García came and asked if anyone wanted to go as a companion to do the census of some kind.

Coincidentally, he was alone with girls and they were the cutest, ”recalls López, who is studying a master's degree in biodiversity conservation and is doing internships at the Doñana Biological Station.

“I think it is also a problem of abuse of power.

It has a lot of power in Doñana, it moves freely through the National Park.

And there are girls who see in him a gateway.

I myself have been told that if you want to see Iberian lynxes you have to go with Luis García”, reflects López.

The environmentalist responded immediately on August 29 to Ana Bernal's first complaint on social networks.

For López, it was “the open secret of Doñana”.

A team from the Ministry of Science has contacted the dozen people who have denounced Luis García's behavior on social networks, to investigate if there is any type of infraction, according to psychologist Zulema Altamirano, director of the Women and Science Unit of the cabinet of Minister Diana Morant.

"If there are indications that a criminal offense has occurred, we will inform the Prosecutor's Office," Altamirano stresses.

"The Ministry's policy is zero tolerance for harassment."

The legal sources consulted explain that the reported facts, if proven, could constitute a crime against privacy.

The director of the Doñana Biological Station, Eloy Revilla, confirms that his institution has also opened a confidential investigation ex officio.

"We will take the appropriate measures when we have all the information," he explains.

Luis García affirms indignantly that they have not yet called him to find out his version of the events, despite having worked for almost half a century in the entity.

The Station proclaimed six years ago that García, Andalusian Prize for Nature Conservation in 1996, is a "must study chapter in the history of Doñana".

Biologist Juan Gallego Zamorano, from Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, volunteered to band grebes with Luis García in late summer 2016. “Usually Luis was the one taking the photos and priority was always given to women, young and if possible in a bikini.

The rest of us—women without bikinis and men—were relegated to practically watching.

They thanked each other for that,” he recalls.

A professor at a Spanish university, who has witnessed the ringing for years and requests anonymity, also speaks of García's double standards with men and women.

“If you're a boy, they won't even learn your name.

He tells you things like: 'You find yourself another car, that only girls go in mine'.

And he leaves with the SUV full of 20-year-old girls and you look for life.

This professor tells anecdotes similar to those of the rest of the complainants, whom he does not know.

“I remember a girl who was going to catch a grebe and Luis García told her: Not you, your friend the blonde.

And the blonde friend was in a bikini."

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