“The Cabañeros National Park does not suffer any environmental emergency situation nor does it suffer from deficient and negligent management of its territory.” This is how the Autonomous Organization of National Parks (OAPN) has responded to the questions of this newspaper about the situation that has generated the overpopulation of wild ungulates, especially deer and wild boarwhose number has increased since the ban on sport and commercial hunting came into force in all national parks in 2020. A situation that has led to the organization being reported to the European institutions by the Association of Affected Persons of the Cabañeros National Park.
National parks, the jewel in the crown of Spanish natural heritage, are not exempt from dangers, even natural ones. One of them is the overpopulation of species. Herbivores such as deer can destroy the vegetation of the places and from there drive cascading effects to other species. It also increases the danger of disease transmission. Until four years ago, these animals were kept in check partly thanks to hunting on private farms in the area. But the 2014 parks law established that as of 2020 that would no longer be possible, and that in exchange compensation had to be established for the cessation of activity among those affected.
The OAPN recognizes that wild ungulates, as a whole, “far exceed the population levels established as an objective in the Master Plan for Use and Management (PRUG). That is, the organization admits that there is overpopulation and that this affects the flora and fauna of the park, which is why in 2023 it approved a management plan to control these animals in an attempt to avoid damage to the ecosystem. However, it ensures that it is complying with the extraction quotas provided for state-owned farms, which account for 55% of the park.
Extraction quotas
Specifically, according to the data provided, the management plan contemplated the extraction of 2,045 deer and 626 wild boar in 2023. Of them, 1,909 individuals have been eliminated through captures and stalkingto which the organization adds another 201 specimens that died from epizootic hemorrhagic disease. In the case of wild boars, 487 specimens have been removed.
This plan, however, has only been carried out on public property due to the lack of agreement with the owners of the private farms, who continue waiting for compensation to arrive and expenses in the animal extraction processes to be covered to contribute to an improvement of the situation in this half of the park.
“By eliminating hunting, they have left the farms without the main tool that was used to control the populations and no other measures have been provided,” Rafael Sánchez, forestry engineer and spokesperson for the Association of Affected People, said a few days ago on ABC. of the Cabañeros National Park. According to the association’s data, in the public part of Cabañeros there are already about 35 animals per km2, when the governing plan for use and management says that the carrying capacity – the maximum that the territory can support without damage – is 25 animals. per km2. The figures are even worse in the part that houses private farms, where no control has been carried out in recent years. «We are now at more than 80 animals per km2».
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