The Civil Guard seizes an African lynx in Malaga that was introduced by plane as a domestic cat

The Civil Guard has intervened a specimen of African lynx (caracal) in the town of Marbella (Málaga), as reported by the armed institute this Friday.

The capture of the animal occurred last January, after a neighbor alerted of the presence of a lynx in the garden of a home in Marbella.

When they arrived, agents specializing in nature protection verified that it was a specimen of caracal, a threatened species according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).

The animal, weighing 20 kilos and potentially dangerous, had escaped from another house about 20 kilometers away.

The civil guards located the owner and found out that the animal had been acquired and transferred irregularly by air in 2022 from Moscow, declared for entry into our country as a domestic cat.

Since they were unable to demonstrate their legal origin as they lacked an import permit number from the CITES agreement, the agents filed an administrative complaint for the alleged violation of the Smuggling Repression Law in accordance with said agreement and sent it to the Provincial Customs and Tax Unit. Specials in Malaga.

Recently, the feline, baptized 'Jakar' and about two years old, was transferred to the AAP Primadomus animal rescue center in Alicante, while investigations continue.

According to this center, the caracal is an animal that lives in the savannahs and semi-deserts of North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and western Asia.

They are capable of killing prey that double or even triple their size.

“Unfortunately, and despite how surprising it may seem, he is not the first to arrive at the AAP center rescued in Spain,” they say from this institution.

“The exotic pet market and the variety of species affected does not stop growing, fueled by the facilities that electronic commerce and social networks offer when it comes to acquiring animals, often impulsively, following fashions and trends created and fed by through the networks themselves,” they point out in AAP.

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