Knowing exactly why a wild animal has died can help protect others. That is the aim of the Canary Islands Watch Network, which seeks to turn on-site findings into scientific information to detect threats to biodiversity across the archipelago. To that end, additional training was provided, in September 2026, to the agents of the Seprona of the Guardia Civil.
How is it investigated whether a death is related to a disease, a poisoning, or an electrocution? According to the Department, the training covered the protocols for sending carcasses to the University Institute of Animal Health (IUSA) and for sending samples to the Toxicology Service (SERTOX), both belonging to the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
How are the data obtained by the different professionals integrated to support wildlife health surveillance? The explanations given by Councillor Mariano Hernández Zapata will allow us to understand a process that aims to turn every investigated case into knowledge useful for protecting Canary Islands biodiversity.
Canary Islands Watch Network
The Department of Ecological Transition of the Canary Islands Government has carried out training for agents of the Nature Protection Service (Seprona) of the Guardia Civil within the framework of the Canary Islands Watch Network to improve coordination in wildlife protection.
As the regional department highlighted in a statement issued this Monday, the training, held last September at the Las Palmas Command, was aimed at improving coordination among the various actors involved in the detection, collection, analysis and registration of wild fauna specimens.
This coordination, in the words of the department head, Mariano Hernández Zapata, enables “to rapidly detect the threats that affect wildlife on the islands and to translate that information into effective measures to protect biodiversity.”
Zapata has valued the role of Guardia Civil officers as an essential part of the surveillance and information-gathering process, and has estimated that their training in the Canary Islands Watch Network protocols allows them to “improve the entire process, from locating an individual specimen to its analysis and the incorporation of the results into a common database.”
During the day, the objectives, structure and operating protocol of the Canary Islands Watch Network, as well as the functioning of its digital platform and the procedure for proper data management, were addressed.
This activity also allowed, moreover, to deepen the criteria and protocols for sending carcasses to the University Institute of Animal Health at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (IUSA), as well as the procedure for sending the samples to the ULPGC’s Toxicology Service (SERTOX), the statement notes.
The practical side also played a prominent role, with a dedicated session focused on recording cases and uploading information to the Canary Islands Watch Network digital platform, so that officers can see firsthand the circuit that enables integrating and systematizing the information gathered on the ground.
The Canary Islands Wildlife Health Surveillance Network is a pioneering government initiative in Spain, designed to identify and analyze the causes of wildlife mortality on the archipelago, the department recalled in its note.
Thanks to its work, both natural and unnatural causes are studied, including infectious diseases, poisonings or electrocutions, and scientific information is generated to facilitate the early detection of threats and the adoption of conservation measures.
Furthermore, it integrates the information produced by different entities and centers specialized in anatomical-pathological and toxicological diagnoses and functions as a data repository to support decision-making in conservation.
