Spanish police arrest two Russian citizens in Mallorca over alleged exotic cat trafficking

# Spanish police arrest two Russian citizens in Mallorca over alleged exotic cat trafficking

Event date: 2025-04-14. Spanish authorities say a probe into online sales of protected cats has uncovered an alleged breeding and trafficking network in Mallorca, with police recovering multiple wildcats and hybrids and detaining two Russian citizens.

The Civil Guard said the arrests were carried out in the Manacor municipality and were tied to wildlife crimes, smuggling, organized crime and document falsification. According to the evidence packet, the suspects are a 48-year-old Russian man and a 46-year-old Russian woman.

Police said officers found a caracal, two servals and 16 felines with varying degrees of hybridization. The animals were allegedly being sold internationally through internet portals and social media accounts. Investigators also named a 48-year-old Israeli man as a suspect.

The case began in March 2024 after police received information about two Russian citizens who had settled on a plot of land where they were breeding servals, caracals and hybrids with domestic cats. The evidence packet says the pair later posted the animals for sale on popular social platforms, and that activity on the accounts suggested a business that was highly active and attracting buyers from several continents.

Authorities said the Mallorca case was not isolated. The packet describes it as the visible part of a broader international trade in protected species, including white tigers and other big cats. Police said the animals offered for sale were often brought from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine and moved into the European Union through the Polish border with Belarus before fraudulent documents were issued.

Investigators also said they found more than 40 animal passports from Russia, Belarus and China at the searched home, along with computer equipment. The recovered animals were said to be in varying condition and were temporarily housed at a nearby zoo while veterinary staff assessed them.

The case highlights how wildlife trafficking has adapted to social media and online marketplaces. In the evidence packet, police described the trade as international in scope, involving breeders, transporters and veterinarians. The sales pitch was not limited to rare cats already in the wild; it also included high-value hybrids marketed as luxury pets.

The packet says purebred caracals and servals can each fetch more than €8,000, while a first-generation hybrid can command up to €18,000. That pricing helped explain why the breeding of wildcats with domestic cats has become attractive to traffickers despite the animals’ welfare risks.

The investigation remains open, and police have not said whether further arrests are expected. For now, the Mallorca case stands as another reminder that the market for exotic animals is not only a conservation problem but also a cross-border criminal business built on online sales, falsified paperwork and the movement of protected species across Europe.