Overview

• Environmental agents, firefighters and Guardia Civil SEPRONA officers used vertical-access techniques to recover several dead storks from high nests in Sopeña de Carneros.
• Radiographs in preliminary necropsies revealed metal splinters in most specimens consistent with shotgun projectiles fired at the birds in their nests.
• Toxicological analysis detected elevated levels of DDE 4,4’ in one adult stork, indicating environmental bioaccumulation of the banned pesticide DDT.
• White storks are listed under Spain’s Special Protection regime and EU directives, making deliberate harm to the birds or their nests a criminal offense with severe penalties.
• The Territorial Environmental Service and Guardia Civil are investigating the killings and studying recovered projectile fragments to identify and prosecute those responsible.