Up to 50 countries have ratified this Tuesday a relaxation of the wolf protection regime, but in the European Union (and after the mandatory change in the Habitats directive) it will be each country has the last word on predator management. In Spain, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition has indicated that regulation on the wolf must be based “on knowledge and science”, so only if the data indicate that the trend of the species is favorable, “Spain would take the appropriate measures in that case”according to ministerial sources.
Precisely in the figures That’s where part of the problem lies. The last national census in which the status of the species was considered to be unfavorable It dates back to 2012-2014 and, according to those affected, it would have been outdated. Data collected by the European Commission estimate there are at least 2,100 wolves in Spain, with a trend between stable and slightly increasing. Other recent studies, such as the one carried out by the Artemisan Foundation, estimated the increase in the population since 2012 at 26%, with an average of about 2,800 specimens spread throughout the territory, although mostly in Castilla y León, Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria.
However, Ecological Transition points out that it is important to closely monitor the status of the populations and «standardize and homogenize techniques census, so that they can be comparable between different European territories.” A new census of the species is scheduled to be published next year.
«Now it is Spain’s turn»assessed the Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers (UPA) in a message in X. “It is time to truly manage the species.” The Agrarian Association of Young Farmers (Asaja) spoke in the same sense, asking the Government join the change of criteria. In any case, he said that “he will exercise exhaustive surveillance when the Government of Spain sends the wolf census again to the European Commission.”
The change approved by the Standing Committee of the Berne Convention, which will be followed from March 2025 (although without a specific date) by a change in the Habitats directivewill give more flexibility to Member States when managing their local wolf populations. However, the animal will remain a protected species. That is, Member States will have to achieve and maintain a state of favorable conservation of the species.
Change the legislation
Right now, in Spain the wolf is recognized as a protected species and has been part of the List of Species under Special Protection Regime (Lespre) since 2021, which is the document that protects the wolf throughout the country. For this reason, the Minister of the Environment of the Government of Castilla y León, Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones, has demanded that the Government repeal “tomorrow” the ministerial order that shielded the wolf throughout the country in 2021, including the four communities that They bring together 98% of the predator’s presence – Castilla y León, Galicia, Cantabria and Asturias. “The circle is narrowing to the Government,” he said.
The request of the wolf communities is return to previous point to the change in the status of the wolf from 2021. Because, as explained by the Galician Minister of the Environment, Ángeles Vázquez, only from 2021 to 2024, warnings about wolf attacks have grown by 72% in Galicia alone. “It is unsustainable,” he lamented.
The reaction of communities and ranchers clashes with that of environmental organizations. «The European Commission will now open a process to modify the Habitats Directive, one of the fundamental pillars for the protection of nature in Europe for more than 30 years. In this modification, in addition to lowering the level of protection for the wolf, the same could be done with other species or habitats, or reducing conservation requirements, which could lead to a very dangerous weakening of nature policies in Europe,” they criticized yesterday. from Ecologists in Action.
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