May you keep a caiman in the Canary Islands?

No. Under transitional provision 2 of Ley 7/2023, until the positive list appears no reptile weighing more than two kilograms as an adult may be kept — chelonians excepted.

What happens if someone releases an exotic animal?

Ley 42/2007 sets fines of 3,001 to 200,000 euros for serious infringements in article 81, and up to two million for very serious ones. Ley 7/2023 classes abandonment as a serious infringement in article 74; article 76 gives 10,001 to 50,000 euros.

What paperwork does a legal keeper need?

Proof of legal origin under article 3 of Real Decreto 7/2018: a CITES permit, a certificate or an invoice stating species, number and permit number. Without it, legal origin is not recognised under article 3.5.

How many kingsnakes have been removed so far?

More than 20,000 since the programme began (Gobierno de Canarias, 11 May 2026). 2026 is the strongest single year: 2,700 by the end of July (Canarias7).

Why is an escaped snake worse here than in Madrid?

Because island species evolved in isolation and have no behavioural response to introduced predators, as Piquet and Gallo explained to Climática. The result: up to 99.6 per cent fewer giant lizards in the invaded areas.

CANARY ISLANDS · ENVIRONMENT

A caiman in La Isleta: why 20,000 captured snakes are the real story

At around one in the morning, something that does not belong there was moving across the asphalt of Calle Faro, in the port district of La Isleta in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: a caiman about a metre long. When a car stopped, the animal slipped underneath it and lay motionless. The Policía Local closed the street, the Guardia Civil's Seprona unit joined them, and the caiman was recovered unharmed. Where it came from is still open — and that is where the anecdote ends and an environmental story begins, one that plays out differently on islands than on the mainland.

14 September 2026 · By Lucía Medina Reyes · 6 min

California kingsnake, the invasive species being controlled on Gran Canaria

Photo: Calibas, CC BY-SA 3.0 (illustrative image).

The case and its context — each with its date

Policía Local de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, via Europa Press, 10 September 2026: a caiman of roughly one metre in Calle Faro, recovered by the night patrol and Seprona.
Gobierno de Canarias, 11 May 2026: more than 20,000 California kingsnakes removed since the control programme began; the species reached Gran Canaria in 1998 through the pet trade.
Canarias7, 1 August 2026: 2,700 animals by the end of July 2026, above the annual record of 2,676 set in 2023; 590 traps, operated by Gesplan.
Canary Islands biodiversity database, after Piquet & López-Darias (2021): in the invaded areas, 93.5 to 99.6 per cent fewer giant lizards and 82.8 per cent fewer skinks.
Ley 7/2023, transitional provision 2: until the positive list is published, venomous reptiles and all reptiles over two kilograms as adults may not be kept as pets, chelonians excepted.

The night in Calle Faro

Residents reported a reptile in the street in the early hours of Thursday, 10 September 2026. "The reptile could be rescued without harm," reads the statement from the Policía Local, distributed by Europa Press the same day. Everything else is open: the species was not publicly identified, no destination was named, and whether the animal escaped or was abandoned is what the investigation has to establish. No possible keeper has been identified. What is fixed is the order of magnitude — a metre of caiman weighs more than two kilograms.

Not an isolated case — but not all of it from this month

On 12 September 2026 Diario de Avisos put together a chronicle of Canarian exotic-animal cases that mixes the years. Ordered by their actual dates: on 26 February 2022 the Guardia Civil and the local police seized a private collection in Telde which Canarias7 puts at 53 protected specimens — among them an African dwarf crocodile, two Cuvier's dwarf caimans and a Gila monster. On 5 July 2025 inspectors at the port of Cádiz found a backpack aboard a ferry bound for the Canaries containing three snakes, a scorpion, two large spiders, two monitor lizards and two sugar gliders; two arrests followed on 22 July in Tenerife (RTVC).

After that: the emu struck on the GC-3 (13 October 2025), five servals in Las Palmas (5 November 2025), 19 exotic animals in Santa Brígida (1 June 2026) and, on 1 September 2026, a Barbary ground squirrel on Lanzarote that had travelled in the bodywork of a hire car from Fuerteventura.

20,000 snakes: why more is at stake on an island

The squirrel explains the principle. On Fuerteventura today's population goes back to a pair released as pets in 1965; the authorities now estimate it at up to a million animals. Lanzarote has none yet — hence the alarm over a single animal in a wheel arch. The CSIC researcher Julien C. Piquet and the biologist Ramón Gallo told the magazine Climática (6 July 2025) that island species evolved in isolation and have no answer to introduced predators.

The costliest proof is the California kingsnake: "more than 20,000" specimens removed since the programme began (Gobierno de Canarias, 11 May 2026), against a cumulative 9,134 in early 2021. The consequences are documented by the Canary Islands biodiversity database, after Piquet & López-Darias (2021): in the invaded zones the giant lizard Gallotia stehlini fell by 93.5 to 99.6 per cent, the skink Chalcides sexlineatus by 82.8 and the gecko Tarentola boettgeri by 52.1 per cent. Since July 2026 the EU project Life Reptiles has been running: 8.2 million euros through 2031.

What is allowed — and what a keeper can do

The positive list that is to settle which wild animals may be kept as pets in Spain is set out in Ley 7/2023 (articles 35 to 37) but is not yet in force; the draft regulation went out to consultation on 17 April 2026. Until then transitional provision 2 applies: venomous reptiles, all reptiles over two kilograms except chelonians, all primates and wild mammals over five kilograms are prohibited. Under article 36, nothing listed in the catalogue of invasive alien species (Real Decreto 630/2013) can ever join the list, and its article 7 already bans possession, transport, trade and release. Legal keepers need paperwork: article 3 of Real Decreto 7/2018 requires a CITES permit, a certificate or an invoice giving species, number, permit number and marking.

Anyone who can no longer care for their animal finds the route in the same provision: notify the competent authority — in the Canaries the regional department for ecological transition or the island's Cabildo — which places the animal in a wildlife recovery centre, a zoo or an animal protection body. It may not be killed for that reason (article 37.3).

If you find an animal like this. Do not touch it, do not try to catch it, do not drive it off — even a small caiman bites. Keep your distance, note the position and take a photograph if you can, then call 112; for the Guardia Civil, 062. Reports to RedEXOS, the Canary early-warning network for invasive species (Decreto 117/2020): 928 301012 (Gran Canaria) and 922 470012 (Tenerife).

What is confirmed — and what is not. The place, date and size in the case of 10 September 2026 are confirmed. Not confirmed are the caiman's species, where it was taken, and the widely repeated account that officers taped its jaws shut — the statement speaks only of immobilisation. The 12 September chronicle differs from the original reports on three points: the emu was hit on the GC-3, not the GC-1; for Telde, Canarias7 gives 53 specimens rather than 48; and the backpack was found at the port of Cádiz, not in Tenerife. Everyone under investigation is presumed innocent.

FAQ

May you keep a caiman in the Canary Islands?: No. Under transitional provision 2 of Ley 7/2023, until the positive list appears no reptile weighing more than two kilograms as an adult may be kept — chelonians excepted.
What happens if someone releases an exotic animal?: Ley 42/2007 sets fines of 3,001 to 200,000 euros for serious infringements in article 81, and up to two million for very serious ones. Ley 7/2023 classes abandonment as a serious infringement in article 74; article 76 gives 10,001 to 50,000 euros.
What paperwork does a legal keeper need?: Proof of legal origin under article 3 of Real Decreto 7/2018: a CITES permit, a certificate or an invoice stating species, number and permit number. Without it, legal origin is not recognised under article 3.5.
How many kingsnakes have been removed so far?: More than 20,000 since the programme began (Gobierno de Canarias, 11 May 2026). 2026 is the strongest single year: 2,700 by the end of July (Canarias7).
Why is an escaped snake worse here than in Madrid?: Because island species evolved in isolation and have no behavioural response to introduced predators, as Piquet and Gallo explained to Climática. The result: up to 99.6 per cent fewer giant lizards in the invaded areas.

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