Inspectors Execute Largest Stuffed Animal Trophy Seizure in the Last Decade

Three wolves, two lynx, eight owls, a tiger, polar bear, otter and 18 songbirds. Those were just part of the arsenal of stuffed animals forbidden to hunt which were found at the home of a Croatian citizen during a joint raid by the Police and the Environmental Protection Inspectors on Tuesday, reports daily Slobodna Dalmacija…

“The person in whose home the stuffed animal trophies were found at did not have any documents pertaining to the origin of the stuffed animals, therefore they were seized and he now faces misdemeanor charges (a fine up to a maximum of 30,000 kuna (4,000 euros),” said Chief Environmental Protection Inspector Kresimir Ilić, adding that the confiscated collection of endangered species alone is estimated to be worth over 50,000 euros.

Croatian government Tweets the news with a pic of the seized stuffed animals

“On the black market stuffed animals can fetch up to 1 million kuna (113,000 euros),” added Ilić, saying that Tuesday’s bust was the biggest of its kind in the last decade in Croatia. It was at this stage where the animals came from, but reports say that part of the collection would have been killed in Croatia.

“Wolf hunting in Croatia is forbidden except in very rare cases, which there have not been any in the last two years. There are only around 50 lynx remaining in Croatia so any loss is extremely important,” said Head of Biodiversity Environmental Protection Inspection Zrinka Domazetović.