THE shooting of 140 wolves in the area of Castilla-Leon is due to be implemented in the next few months, as the government has increased the hunting quota for Iberian wolves in the province.
Unlike Portugal, the Iberian wolf is not a protected species in Spain, therefore giving Spanish authorities the right to authorise the hunting of these animals.
Alberto Fernández Gil, a specialist and author of several books about these wolves said, ”any indiscriminate, non-selective control of wolf populations not only bears the risk of destabilising existing pack structures (e.g. by killing high ranking or alpha individuals) forming a vital prerequisite for the survival of packs, but it may most likely spur more wolf attacks on livestock as they require less skilful hunters for making a kill.”
“In this way the scheduled shooting of 190 wolves in Castilla-Leòn and Astoria would become totally counterproductive, undermining the original idea of reducing the damage to livestock owners via the population control of wolves.”
The hunting quota on wolves has been increased amid worries from Spain’s livestock owners over their own animals, due to Spain’s current recession.
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