The Civil Guard of Toledo arrested a 61-year-old man for killing an Iberian imperial eagle, one of the most endangered birds on the Iberian Peninsula, with a firearm. The prisoner is the guardian of a hunting reserve located in La Mancha Toledo, in an area of particular importance for the dispersion of fauna, the armed institution specifies in a statement. The investigation by the Nature Protection Service (Seprona) of the Toledo Command began in February after learning of the discovery of a lifeless specimen of the Iberian imperial eagle in an area that the Civil Guard prefers not to identify to safeguard the species.
The operation, called IMPEMO, found that the animal had been shot dead by a man who was carrying out surveillance activities in a hunting reserve. The officers arrested the guard and seized the weapon used to commit the crime, a 17 caliber Browning rifle, as Civil Guard sources told EL PAÍS. The prisoner, who has no criminal record, risks a prison sentence of up to two years, as well as disqualification from practicing his profession, hunting or fishing, and the penalty of deprivation of the right to own and bear arms for a period of up to four years.
The environment in which the specimen was killed is part of the Protected Areas Network of Castilla-La Mancha, which integrates several wildlife and fishing refuges, as well as Special Protection Areas for Birds (SPAs) and Places of Community Importance (SCI). These environments, integrated into the Natura 2000 Network, have special measures for the conservation and recovery of species in danger of extinction. The Iberian imperial eagle – Aquila adalberti – is included in the Spanish catalog and in the regional catalog of threatened species of Castilla-La Mancha as an “endangered species”, due to its small population and high risk of disappearance in the short or medium term.
The latest census of the Iberian imperial eagle in the peninsula, carried out between 2021 and 2022, counted 841 nesting pairs, of which 821 in Spain and 20 in Portugal, with an increase of 53% compared to 2017. The species has its main range in five autonomous communities, especially in Castilla-La Mancha, the region that brings together 47% of the breeding pairs. Its territory presents very favorable habitats for the species, mainly in the Tagus Valley, in the Sierra Morena environment and in the Campo de Montiel. According to this census, the province of Toledo is “key” to the survival of this species with 212 identified population centers.
Threats to the species
The Iberian imperial eagle has a program life of the species began in the 1990s and seeks to address the main threats to its survival, with measures aimed at minimizing deaths from electrocution and poisoning with toxic baits illegally released into the natural environment. According to the Ministry for Ecological Transition (Miteco), between 1992 and 2017, 195 imperial eagles died from this cause, followed by others such as poaching, poisoning due to the consumption of prey with a high lead content or the development of infrastructure that negatively affects their recovery.
Despite its classification in Spain as an “endangered” or “endangered” species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has lowered its protection to “vulnerable”. The proliferation of wind farms is one of the latest threats the species faces. Between 2022 and 2024, according to SEO/Birdlife, three Iberian imperial eagles died due to impacts at three wind farms in the province of Albacete. The organization considers it “essential” that the diffusion of renewable energy occurs with environmental compatibility criteria, “respecting current legislation and the ecological values of the territory”.
