The Government backtracks ten months later and already allows "exceptions" for the hunting of Iberian wolves in all territories

Less than a year has lasted the Ministry of Ecological Transition the Order that legally shielded the Iberian wolf and the prohibition in any case that it could hunt a single specimen, nor for those that attacked extensive livestock and thus cause some Millionaire losses of up to 9.5 million euros per year

in each campaign.

It was on September 21, 2021 when the Government modified the List of Wild Species under Special Protection Regime (Lespre) and included the Iberian wolf, which from that very moment caused a wave of criticism from ranchers, hunters and also from the main autonomous communities where this animal has a greater number of specimens, such as

,

,

or

(grouping 95% of the total census).

In unison, they began a legal battle before the National High Court to overturn said regulations.

However, and after the proceeding granted a few weeks ago to Asturias, this Thursday the Third Vice President of the Government and Minister of Ecological Transition,

, backed down, at least in part, and announced the implementation of a protocol " as a coordinated and uniform mechanism" that will serve for all the territories in order to provide "guarantees for all the administrations involved in the authorizations of exceptions for the selective extraction of specimens".

That is to say, the criterion is modified and Iberian wolves can be hunted as a "preventive measure" and this measure winks at the farmers after their complaints in these ten months: the minister promises to enable economic items to "compensate" for the damages generated by the species in the cattle herd.

In addition,

where the specific number of existing wolves in Spain and their current location is updated, since the last official report dates from the 2012-2014 census and includes 297 packs, but without specifically detailing the number of copies. , which could be between 2,000 and 3,000.

The Ministry details that the document presented to the regional councilors incorporates, "to the extent possible, the contributions received by the regional authorities", as well as those raised by other entities within the State Council for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity .

Thus, he underlines, "this roadmap is the result of the work carried out with all the autonomous communities, and especially with those that support a greater number of herds in their territory", for which he adds that this new regulation "was a necessary step "for the distribution of funds from the 2022 General State Budget and thus support" the owners of livestock farms ".

In any case, the measure did not finish convincing some autonomous communities,

From Ecologists in Action they criticize that the new framework contemplates the authorization of exceptions for the selective extraction of specimens "which, unlike the controls authorized until now, are no longer based on population control or allow the approval of wolf quotas to kill".

However, this organization celebrates the approval of this strategy, which in its opinion "helps to overcome the confrontation" produced between the authorities that watch over the conservation of the wolf and the sectors affected by the presence of this animal -such as ranchers-, " despite the fact that the autonomous communities governed by the PP have opposed its approval at the Sector Conference on the Environment".

ASTURIAS AND CASTILE AND LEON

Until now, there were two precedents of autonomous communities where state regulations had already been blown up before the change in the Government's decision announced this Thursday.

One did so in coordination with the Ministry of Ecological Transition itself, that of Asturias, which at the beginning of July announced that it would allow population controls "when necessary" and on an "individual" basis, approving a regional resolution to 2022 and 2023. In fact, the Asturian counselor assured then that "of course the situation has worsened" since the wolf shield was approved in September, and reported that since last fall more than 800 complaints of wolf attacks have been registered to cattle.

The second was Cantabria, which is home to the largest number of wolf packs in Spain.

This region authorized the population control of the species without prior consensus with the Government and assured that the hunting of up to ten specimens was allowed, a number that could be increased in the near future after registering

.

Castilla y León positioned itself along the same lines, with losses in the last campaign of 4,250,000 euros.

Meanwhile, on July 13, the Constitutional Court (TC) annulled the law of Castilla y León that allowed Iberian wolves to be hunted north of the Duero River despite being animals included in the Lesrpe.

According to the sentence, the autonomous norm was in conflict with state regulations, which prohibited hunting them throughout Spain since September.

However, a previous regulation, Law 4/2021, of July 1, on hunting and sustainable management of hunting resources in Castilla y León, cataloged the wolf populations located north of the Duero as a hunting species, after obtaining the corresponding administrative authorization.

SATISFACTION

The Minister of Rural Environment and Territorial Cohesion of Asturias, Alejandro Calvo, who has participated in the telematic meeting of the Sector Conference on the Environment held this Thursday, has explained that given the continued damage to livestock and growing social conflict, for the Principality it means an "absolute priority to recover legal certainty to carry out population controls within the framework of the regional wolf management plan".

For this reason, he added, the fact that the ministry has assumed the Asturias protocol proposal in this new strategy represents a "decisive advance" for which he assured that his ministry will update "immediately" the control and management program of the wolf, adapted to the new regulatory framework and based on data from the 2021 census.

The difficult coexistence between the wolf and livestock is a problem that has worsened in recent times after the entry into force of the ban on hunting the wolf in any circumstance.

Since then, there have been demonstrations and protests by affected ranchers in the most affected areas.

The agrarian organizations had been denouncing in recent months that the ban on hunting the wolf "is a measure that had caused "serious damage to our rural areas suffering from depopulation" and was precisely approved by a Ministry "which bears the title of Reto Demographic", the representatives of Asaja and Coag in Asturias explained jointly. In addition, they added that "the conservationism of the ministerial offices is not what our farmers need, what they need is support, control of the populations and, in the case of if damage occurs, fair and strict compensation". For ranchers, "the wolf is neither vulnerable nor in danger of extinction, so its inclusion in the catalog of protected species is unnecessary,unlucky and accentuates the problems in our cattle herd.

After the retreat of the ministry, the representatives of the farmers wait to study the "small print" of the new document to check if "those approved population controls" really represent a change in the Government's position and have a positive impact on the management of the cattle raising.

"They could not continue to turn a deaf ear to a total clamor and without any fissure from the people of the countryside," they explained.

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