Abandoned crayfish found in a park in Tenerife: ‘You can be fined 200,000 euros for this’

Several abandoned crayfish have been found in a park in Tenerife, by a volunteer of the Association for the Defence and Protection of Animals of the Canary Islands (ADEPAC Canarias).

After the discovery, in the Sanabria Park in Santa Cruz, the volunteer alerted the Neotropic Foundation, who went to the park to rescue the crayfish that had been left there by someone and were in danger by being outside their natural habitat.

However, they can also create big problems when in this situation as they aim to adapt to their surroundings. ADEPAC explained that the crayfish dig holes to protect themselves from the excess heat in summer, and then when winter comes, they come out again dragging all the vegetation with them eroding the sides of ravines, altering the natural environment.

In addition to this, each female crayfish can lay up to 500 eggs so their reproduction is amazingly fast and they take over any area that their habitat.⁣⁣

The abandonment of any animal is a serious crime in Spain and, specifically, that of an invasive exotic species such as these carries sanctions and fines ranging from 3,000 to 200,000 euros.

Crayfish originate from the United States and, therefore, have been introduced in the Canary Islands, and are considered to be an invasive exotic species. The natural habitat of these creatures is bodies of water that have little currents such as rivers, lakes, lagoons, ponds, and swamps. If these places have a very high level of contamination, they would not be able to survive.