The government sets a date for the end of wolf hunting

Andalucia and others rebel against ban on hunting wolves

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The government sets a date for the end of wolf hunting

The hunting for the Iberian wolf has come to an end. The species will no longer be considered game (animals that can be hunted and fished) in Spain on September 25, 2021, according to the Ministry for Ecological Transition. The measure would ensure that the canid’s conservation status is equal across the country, and that it cannot be hunted as it is now in communities living north of the Duero River, where the animal is more abundant.

The species is strictly protected south of the border and can only be caught with special permits. According to the last national census conducted between 2012 and 2014, more than a hundred wolves are legally killed each year in Spain, out of a population of between 2,000 and 2,500 animals distributed in 297 packs. Castilla y León has the highest population density, followed by Galicia, Asturias, and Cantabria, which account for 95% of the population.

With the determination of a set date to end wolf hunting, the government has failed to win over Ascel (the organisation that advocated for the reform in wolf regulations). The text of the governmental order, which, if accepted, would allow the wolf to be added to the List of Wildlife Species under Special Protection Regime (LESPRE), and as a result, raise its conservation category.

Martínez assures that the order opens the door “to the continued killing of wolves for control, to prevent significant damage to livestock or for reasons of public interest of the first order, including those of a socio-economic nature”.

Ascel requested that the autonomous communities’ management plans be halted as soon as the text was released by Teresa Ribera’s department.

As reported by El Pais

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Natasha Brewer

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