The ibérico wolf has been a protected species throughout Spain since September 2021, when he entered Lespre and was no longer a northern douro river.
Wolves will be hunted again in Spain, north of the Douro River, following a proposal approved Thursday at the Spanish parliament plenary by four right-wing parties.
At the initiative of the Popular Party (PP, right and largest force of parliamentary opposition in Spain), the wolf today came from the list of wild species under special protection (known as Lespre) in the case of territories north of the Douro River.
In addition to the PP, they voted in favor Vox (Extreme Spanish right), together for Catalonia (Catalan Independentists) and Basque Nationalist Party (PNV, in the acronym in Spanish).
The ibérico wolf has been a protected species throughout Spain since September 2021, when he entered Lespre and was no longer a northern douro river.
In today’s debate in the Spanish Parliament, the four parties argued with attacks from wolves to cattle and people and the need for, in the words of PP Milagros Marcos, “ending the nightmare of thousands of cattle breeders and humble families who want to continue to live in their villages without fear.”
“It is not necessary to choose between the wolf and the cattle, it is necessary to ensure balance and coexistence”, through the “responsible management” of wolves populations, “how it was” until 2022, when this management was “prohibited by pure ideology,” said Milagros Marcos.
For the deputy, “ideology” is “daily to end the rural world” in a critique of the left.
According to the data referred to in the debate, since the wolf entered Lespre in Spain, the “result could not be more unfortunate”: less 3.5 million heads of cattle, plus 71 lobby packs, more than 15,000 heads of “murdered” cattle per day and 4.5 million pounds of meat turned into waste.
“Who needs to protect?” Asked the deputy.
The PP also argued that with this measure approved today, Spain goes to a European directive that will qualify the wolf as “gestyable species” throughout the Union.
The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE, which is in charge of the country’s government), through Mrs Patricia Otero, just criticized the way PP led this measure, “gluing” a change to a law proposal to prevent food waste and without allowing an extended debate.
The unprotection of the wolf in Spain, with the removal today of the Lespre species, was already criticized by several environmental and animal defense associations, which considered the decision of Parliament a “historical setback”:
“The Congress [parlamento] Today he signed a black chapter in the history of nature conservation in Spain, unprotecting the wolf through the gate of the rear without any scientific support, “said the WWF association, through its secretary general, Juan Carlos del Olmo.
For WWF, the possibility of “indiscriminate killings” of wolves in Spain, by regional governments, as it happened until 2021, was open today.
WWF Secretary-General recalled that the Cantabria autonomous government, for example, has already announced that it intends to authorize the hunting of 40 wolves without, under the understanding of the association, “scientific justification”.
The European Commission presented on March 7 a proposal to amend the “strictly protected” wolves status to only “protected”, allowing each country in the “additional flexibility” community to control the populations of these animals.
In a statement, the Von Der Leyen executive announced that the change was made under the Bern Convention, which began to be applied today.
