The Ministry of Ecological Transition has approved this Thursday a wolf conservation strategy that aims to expand the species – whose sport hunting has been prohibited in Spain since 2021 – to the east and south of the Peninsula, promote measures of coexistence with the rural world and increase the amount of compensation ranchers who suffer attacks. However, the document, to which EL PAÍS has had access, allows communities to kill specimens when they cause serious damage, all prevention measures have failed and the general population of wolves is not harmed. The environmental organizations see the strategy as positive, but they criticize this last aspect, while several PP communities believe that the document goes against the rural population. Breeders’ associations are also opposed, although they recognize some progress.
The draft of the “Strategy for the conservation and management of the wolf and its coexistence with the activities of the rural world”, approved this Thursday by the ministry and the communities -except those of the PP-, seeks to clarify the ministerial order -of superior rank- that prohibited the hunting of this animal in all of Spain in September of last year. In that first document there was already talk of “extractions” of wolves, a euphemism to refer to the death of specimens. The strategy clarifies the conditions under which the autonomous communities may activate the protocol to eliminate these protected animals, always with specialized personnel, when they cause “significant damage”.
“Extraction measures will be subject to confirmation that adequate, necessary and proportionate prevention measures have been used, and that these have not been successful (no satisfactory alternatives). In addition —continues the draft—, extractions should not be detrimental to achieving or maintaining the favorable conservation status of the population and it will always have been taken into account that the lethal alternative is the last measure to be addressed”.
Castilla y León, Cantabria and Galicia, where most of the wolves on the Peninsula live, voted this Thursday against the strategy because they would like to continue allowing the hunting of these animals. “We cannot vote in favor of a document that goes against the rural population, specifically those dedicated to extensive livestock farming,” points out a statement from this first region, which has also appealed to the National High Court for the protection of the species. However, these administrations will be responsible for authorizing “extractions” of animals. If the ministry considers that the conditions to carry them out are not met, it could take the corresponding community to court.
The ministry maintains that the strategy “represents a cooperation framework between authorities and sectors concerned by the presence of this species of great ecosystem value.” And it highlights that the State will contribute 20 million euros to implement both preventive measures against the attacks of these animals (monitoring of shepherds, use of dogs, fences and good management of livestock), as well as to compensate the damage caused by the species. in the cattle shed. Until now, there was no single compensation mechanism, but each autonomy applied its own.
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In addition, a new national census of wolves coordinated by the department of Teresa Ribera is launched. Currently, the data is outdated and it is not clear how many individuals there are in the country, although some estimates speak of between 2,000 and 2,500 animals in about 300 herds. Nevertheless, a recent study by the CSIC reveals that the methods of monitoring the Iberian wolf they tend to overestimate the size of populations and discourage their hunting.
A plan with lights and shadows
The NGOs Ecologistas en Acción and WWF have received the plan with hope, although with some buts. “We value the initiative positively for what it means in terms of ensuring the conservation of the species and for its commitment to promoting coexistence between extensive livestock farming and the wolf, reducing damage to livestock, as well as for the investment of 20 million”, summarizes Theo Oberhuber, spokesman for Ecologists in Action. “The black point is the regulation of extractions: we refuse to kill wolves because that disrupts the packs and increases attacks on livestock”, he adds.
Further goes Nacho Rodríguez, spokesman for the Association for the Conservation and Study of the Iberian Wolf (Ascel), the entity that managed to ban the hunting of this animal: “The message is sent that wolves can be killed, but not meet the conditions, because it is in an unfavorable conservation situation. It is unacceptable that the Government has yielded to this pressure, because in the previous draft of the strategy it did not include these extractions”. In his opinion, if any government authorized the hunting of this protected animal, then it could be done with other species, such as bears or lynxes. “If any government allows the hunting of wolves, we are going to take it to court,” he advances.
At the other extreme are the agrarian organizations. “It is a stab in the back to the livestock sector,” summarizes José Manuel Soto, responsible for wildlife and the environment of the COAG union. “I live in the Sierra de la Culebra, the place in Spain where there are more wolves, and here we have always hunted them in a controlled way, and there have been no problems with the survival of the species. But suddenly, on someone’s whim, it is prohibited. We will not forget this betrayal.” The farmer criticizes that this species is protected without having a census of how many animals there are and denounces that the towns of the region have stopped receiving “between 70,000 and 100,000 euros a year from the hunting licenses that were given each year to allow captures of Wolves”.
Román Santalla, Secretary of Livestock of the UPA union, points out that in general they do not like the document, although he admits some progress: “There has been progress in moderating the ultra-ecologist and denial discourse of our problem. The wolf is in expansion phase. My dog ate me. You have to recognize who suffers the damage on a daily basis, because if not the field is turned upside down”. In his opinion, the 20 million euro item is positive, “but it cannot be made conditional on the farmer having a bunker on his farm.” And he asks that they also include “collateral damage”: “A wolf can kill a sheep, but with stress, three others abort and that is not contemplated.”
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