The Iberian wolf has reached in Spain Stay in the northern part of the Duero Riverthat is, Castilla y León, Galicia, Cantabria and Asturia. There are some somewhat smaller populations in it La Rioja, Basque Country, Guadalajara and Andalucía and some in Community of Madrid, Specifically in the Sierra de Guadarrama.
To protect the population of the Iberian wolf, It is necessary to maintain your state of preservation And dealing with the problems that genetic change entails. The mission for the coming years would population the more than 100,000 kilometers Squares where no copy is located.
Instead, the communities of Cantabria and Asturia proposed to kill a number of wolves as irrational and randomly before 2026, with the excuse to protect extensive cattle. An action that, in addition to antinatural, Could have expected fully opposite effectsAs indicated by all professional sources consulted.
Random figures
He The government of Asturia has joined the war that Cantabria has been declared against the wolfconvicted of a hundred copies to die between the two regions in just one year. WWF cherishes that these plans do not take into account their cumulative impact for the species and requires that administrations withdraw them. Otherwise, the NGO will take legal actions to stop them because they believe they are random, miss a scientific basis and be incompatible with long -term survival of the species.
He The government of the principality of Asturia presented in Oviedo, before the Lobo Management Plan Advisory CommitteeThe proposal to resume the systematic persecution of the species that was arrested in 2021 after admission to the Lesrpe.
Asturias is planning to kill 53 copies until March 2026More than 15% of the regional population, according to official estimates: an unbearable figure for the NGO, because this would mean the greatest slaughter of wolves in the recent history of principality.
The announcement of the Asturian government, whose approval is particularly expected, Adds to the plan that has already been approved by Cantabria to reduce 41 wolves20% of the population estimated by the regional government. In both cases, the environmental organization criticizes that these are random figures, established without a solid scientific support and without public participation that would require such a transcendent decision for the future of a protected species.
Kill Wolves does not solve anything
Moreover, it is that A short and populist measure that will not reduce damage to extensive livestock farmingBecause scientific evidence shows that the most effective strategy to achieve this is to protect cattle with preventive measures.
The recovery of this jewel of the Iberian fauna has stagnated over the past decade and its future is still far from insured. The NGO is Analysis of the plans of Asturia and Cantabria and will take legal actions that are necessary to defend the wolf and bring the courts responsible for these murders.
The organization Alert on the cumulative impact of both plans for the wolfThe one in Spain is found in a state of unfavorable conservation, which forces measures to guarantee viability in the long term.
In July 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union canceled the hunting plan of the Wolf of Castilla Y León, which judged the The purpose of these measures must be to maintain or restore the species that it is a favorable state of preservation. “
According to the European regulations, this State implies the obligation of regional administrations to guarantee the expansion of other areas and the growth of population in their own geographical areas: A legal necessity that is maintained, even if the species is manageableAnd that is incompatible with the systematic and random persecution that Asturia and Cantabria intend to resume.
That is why the NGO claims both regional administrations to withdraw these plans and bet on a management of the species based on science and coexistence. According to An analysis published by WWF this yearSupporting the policy for damage measures for preventing cattle from Asturia and Cantabria are among the worst appreciated in the country.
The environmental organization urges regional governments Priorit and invest in measures to prevent and reduce damage, rather than promising wolves for pure demagogy and political opportunism: A strategy without technical criteria, which for many years it was shown useless to resolve the conflict.
‘Sentence a hundred wolves to death is nonsense That endangers the preservation of the species in our country, “said the general secretary of the NGO for Spain, Juan Carlos del Olmo. “De Wolf is an ally of society and plays an essential ecological role to restore the health of ecosystems and use the rifle as a management instrument is a primitive, populist and illegal measure,” he added.