A farmer in Navarra is investigated for the death of 6 vultures intoxicated with pentobarbital after feeding on cows.

The remains of the cows of the investigated had the same toxic drug as the dead birds.
Agents of the Foral Police of Navarra, attached to the Environmental Investigation Group (GRIM) have opened criminal proceedings against a resident of Baztán as the alleged perpetrator of a crime related to the protection of wildlife.
The investigation began in March, after Environmental Guard/Basozainak personnel from the Bidasoa area found six dead griffon vultures next to the carcasses of some cows in a Protection Zone for the Feeding of Necrophagous Species (ZPAEN) located in Baztán.
The birds were taken to the wildlife recovery center in Ilundáin for necropsies and later biological analyses were carried out in authorized laboratories.
The results confirmed that both birds and cows had traces of pentobarbital, a drug used by veterinarians to euthanize livestock.
The biological analyses also corroborated the coincidence of the meat of the intoxicated cow with that ingested by the griffon vultures.
The agents identified the carcass of the cow to know its owner, responsible for its deposit in the ZPAEN, for which he was summoned under investigation.
In 2018, after learning of several facts of similar nature, the Department of Rural Development and Environment of the Government of Navarra informed the College of Veterinarians of Navarra so that its members communicate to their livestock clients that the carcasses of animals euthanized by using this drug must be managed so that it is not possible that vultures and other scavengers (bearded vultures, red kites, Egyptian vultures and golden eagles) can eat such carcasses.
Animals euthanized with pentobarbital must be incinerated by an authorized manager and, in the case of equines, they may be buried provided that certain legal conditions are respected.
Griffon vultures, together with the rest of Navarre’s scavengers, are included in the Catalogue of Threatened Species of Navarre and the Penal Code punishes their death when it is carried out deliberately or by serious imprudence.
For the mentioned facts the corresponding report was instructed, which was sent to the Court of Instruction of Pamplona and to the Prosecutor’s Office of Environment and Urbanism of Navarre.
Source: https://www.animalshealth.es/animaladas/investigan-ganadero-navarra-muerte-6-buitres-intoxicados-pentobarbital-tras-alimentarse-unas-vacas