For several years, We live in our modern societies a remarkable evolution of sensitivities about the issue of animal murder and a decrease in hunterscoupled with the interrogation of the relationship with other living beings with whom we share the planet.
It is impossible to Revelations about animal sacrifices circumstances In the food industry by animal rights associations, which shocked public opinion. Hunting is no exception to this challengeBecause it is not necessary to find a living, the opinion that the dead for sport is unnecessary aberration, more and more supporters and social pressure against this activity is bearing fruit.
Hunters in Spain
The Population of hunters of the Iberian Peninsula, the largest in Western Europe, is strong old, With 41% more than 60 years, while young people between 21 and 30 years old hardly represent 5%. This is one of the most important results of a study led by researcher José Daniel Anadón, from the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (IPE) of Zaragoza, center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), after analyzing the hunting and Portugals).
The researcher and his team confirm a “refuse very pronounced, prosecuted and certainly irreversible‘From the hunting population on the Iberian peninsula due to a lack of generation lighting for at least five decades.
This fact, together with Other processes coupled with leaving the countryside, such as the decrease in the extensive cattle Or the wood collection for firewood, it probably has a deep effect on ecosystems and nature populations, ecological consequences that will be analyzed in a second phase of the study, that is, in view of the size of these processes, “is the study of the current scenario of leaving the activity essential for the planning of adequate environmental management”.
About these results, published in prestigious British magazine people and nature, Anadón emphasizes that, In the past 15 years, the number of hunters has fallen by 26% And in the last 50, 45%. “This trend is directly linked to the admission of young people, has constantly decreased and 89% has been reduced in the last 50 years,” he says.
Young people acquire the consciousness of naturists
So, while about 6,000 was counted in 2020 Hunters With a maximum of 20 years, in 1990 there were 42,000 and in 1970 86,000 for the regions studied. “This decrease is much larger than expected due to the simple aging of the Population studied and shows a historical decrease in interest in huntingHe says.
In Aragon, despite presenting a greater practice of hunting in relative terms, the trends of the Hunters They follow a tonic that is very similar to that described for the entire Iberian peninsula. Sohunters registered in the community represent 2.8% Of the total population, a figure that exceeds the participation that is registered for the entire peninsula.
However,The aging of hunters in the Aragonese community coincides with the total peninsula40%. Similarly, the total number of licenses in Aragon has fallen by more than 15% in the last 15 years, from a total of around 54,000 to less than 46,000. Just like in the rest of the regions studied, this decrease is due to a continuous loss of recruitment in the last 50 years, with a decrease in the new Hunters In Aragon of 80% in that period.
If 50 years ago, in the 70s, it is estimated that 4,500 new Hunters It has been introduced in Aragon in the last decade Only about 900 new hunters. In the event that this trend of the last five decades will remain in the future, it can be expected that by 2050 the total number of people hunting in Aragon will fall 57% compared to the current one.
Ecosystems have changed
These results are consistent with the historical and social -cultural context in which this activity is found, because the hunt has experienced in -depth changes in developed countries in the last century, from a self -sufficient activity in national societies to a recreational, and the number of participants have also reduced in other countries. This Refusing accused of hunting activity opens the door to a change in our ecosystems As we know them, because of the recovery of the presence and the abundance of species, it did not want to go, such as the mountain goat or Lazine and predators of medium or small size, such as the wolf or the fox.
All these species are for extremely rare or even absent centuries in a large part of the territory in rural environments, where they have been persecuted for centuries as a vermin as in the case of predators. However, The purchase of the hunt, as well as other abandoned processesThey can mark a turning point of their populations and our ecosystems in the structure and operation.
The study has Based on the analysis of the information about the municipality and the date of birth included in the hunting permits issued in six autonomous communities (Andalusia, Aragon, Navarra, Castilla La Mancha, Madrid and Murcia) and Portugal, for the period 2005-2020, which represents nearly 60% of the territory and the population of the Iberian peninsula.
From this information it is also possible to make credible estimates about the hunting population of the last five decades. So for example the number of Hunters which was between 60 and 70 in 2010, represents the number Hunters What tThey came in between 20 and 30 – and that was why it started in the hunt – in the 60s.
In addition, Researchers have made a future projection of the hunting population. If the average observed trend continues during the last five decades in the investigated area, it can be expected that by 2050 the Hunters fell by 70%, that is, 15% of those who had been 50 years ago (in 1970) and that the share of Hunters More than 60 years rise from 40% to 61% (that is, 53%).
Lower municipal size, a larger number of hunters
Work shows that participation in hunting, Measured as the proportion of people hunting compared to the total population, Increases the size of the municipality as the size of the municipality decreases. Thus, those of a smaller size, with fewer than 100 inhabitants, have an average participation of 8%, a figure that falls to 4% in municipalities between 1,001 and 10,000 inhabitants and that is only 1% in cities over 100,000 inhabitants. Despite these differences in participation, most (69%) of Hunters Of the regions studied, they live in large cities, while in the smallest municipalities (fewer than 1,000 inhabitants) they only do 5% of the set of Hunters
Along these lines, the study also noted that the recording of new ones Hunters It varies greatly with the size of the municipality and the recruitment of Hunters Young is 20 times higher in small villages than in large cities. This Result shows that huntingwhich is often in the family or in the nearby social environment, occurs in the rural environment, but it is transferred with great difficulty in more urban Entos.
Concluding, Although most hunters live in Spain in cities, It is in the smallest villages where the cultural transfer of hunting is higher, although the number Hunters In total it is very small.
He Germ of this two -year study was the end of -degree work By Ignacio García in environmental sciences of the High Polytechnic School of HUESCA. In addition to José Daniel Anadón (IPE), seven other researchers also participated in it: Mario Gaspar (IPE), Juan Herrero (University of Zaragoza), José Antonio Sánchez Zapata (Miguel Hernández de Elchez de Elchezo Acivity), and Kelezo Acese, and Kelezo -University), and Kelezo -University) For research in Hunayo Acevedo (Institute for Research in Hunado and Pelayo Acevedo (Institute for Robert in Institute (Institute for Robert in Institute (Institute for Robert at Institute (Institute for Robert for research in Hunado and Pelayo Asing. Iudad Real – IREC).