Wolves of Spain
Wolf of Spain
Spain is one of the last remaining refuges of the European wolf.
Until the early 1970s the wolf was ‘officially’ considered as a pest in Spain, and the government paid out bounties for dead wolves and distributed strychnine to landowners and peasants. At the time, many saw the wolf as a mark of a Third World country, in contrast to ‘civilized’ nations like France and Britain who had successfully eradicated their wolf plagues.
On occasions in the past, persecution was widespread and crushing. An act passed by Principality of Asturias details that between March and December 1816, bounties were paid out for the death of 76 adult and 414 young wolves at 160 reales for an adult wolf and 32 for a wolf cub.
The historian Juan Pablo Torrente concluded that the hunting of wild beasts, including wolves, bears and foxes represented, ‘in absolute and relative terms, a considerable source of wealth’ for local populations. The lobero or wolf-hunter was a respected county figure until relatively recently, and a whole range of ingenious traps have been devised over the centuries to catch wolves.
All are now illegal. It is however still legal to hunt wolves in most of Spain. In most of its range, the Law s states that the species must be respected as long as it does not come into conflict with human interests. While hunting itself does not necessarily pose a big threat for the Iberian wolf, as most hunts end in failure, the Law gives carte blanche for indiscriminate hunting in most areas.
North of the River Duero, only the municipality of Muelas de los Caballeros in north of Zamora, where the densest Spanish wolf populations are found, has shown any real interest for its conservation. Protection is, however, much stronger south of the Duero where the Iberian wolf populations are far more fragile.
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