Twenty-eight turtles belonging to a protected species : this is what the police discovered during the searches carried out yesterday as part of the maxi-operation "Family and friends".
The animals were found in the large garden of the house of one of the main suspects : they are 6 specimens of Testudo Marginata , typical of Sardinia only and also known as the Sardinian tortoise, and 22 Testudo Hermanni , a terrestrial species typical of Southern Europe and the Mediterranean islands. Each of them has a market value of around 100 euros .
The turtles will be delivered to the Monastir wildlife recovery centre.
The owner was criticized for the lack of traceability which should come from a CITES document certifying that those small animals come from a farm.
Parrots were also found, but in this case not belonging to protected species.
(Unioneonline/vl)
