The Iberian Wolf – Running From Prejudice

Feb 11, 2012
Peter Ashby

Iberian wolves in Kerkrade´s Zoo (Netherlands) - Gérard van Drunen

Spanish wolves are threatened by habitat loss, prejudice and and fraudulent compensation claims, and need urgent protection to save them from oblivion.

Across the world, wolves are running for their lives from that most destructive of predators, the human animal.

In Russia, it seems there is no room for the wolf in the vast northern forests, and they are shot mercilessly. From Mongolia to India and Israel, the wolf remains the archetypal demon, an exaggerated primal force pitted against man and his supposedly civilized ways.

In Europe the old legends persisted down the ages, that in the dark forests lurked fearsome beasts, driven by insatiable hunger to ravage livestock and steal babies from their cribs. All this time, it was man who continued to clear the forests, destroying the habitat of the primary predators, depriving them of their natural prey and forcing them into increasing conflict with farmers and their stock.

The Iberian Wolf – Number One Villain

Spain is roughly twice the size of the United Kingdom but has a significantly lower population. Wilderness comprises a sizeable proportion of the land, and wolves, European brown bears and the critically endangered Iberian lynx have maintained a precarious existence.

However, wolf hatred is as virulent here as elsewhere. Livestock farmers stage high-profile demonstrations in support of their extermination, dressing up in animal costumes and enacting distasteful parodies of wolf attacks using the mutilated corpses of sheep. National news networks carry stories about the "wolf problem" that fail to present a balanced view.

Media Power

This problem of biased media coverage has been repeatedly highlighted by Spain´s wolf conservation body, the Asociación para la Conservación y Estudio del lobo Ibérico (ASCEL). The Association says that reports of wolf attacks on livestock are frequently alarmist, hugely subjective, and use emotive language such as "vermin", whilst failing to consult biologists and conservationists.

Wolf Attacks On Livestock

How justified are the accusations made against the wolves of Spain, how endangered are they, and how can the conflict between man and wolf be resolved?

With some 2000 individuals, Spain has the largest wolf population in western Europe. That Spanish wolves kill livestock is undeniable, but ASCEL presents some interesting statistics that put this issue in context.

Although wolves are legally killed in Spain, they are – at least on paper – a protected species and farmers are entitled to compensation for animals killed by wolves. In the region of Asturias between 2000-2004, wolves killed less than 1% of extensively-reared stock, and the payments made to farmers amounted to less than 1% of received subsidies.

In fact, Spain´s entire annual expenditure on compensation for wolf damage amounts to some1.5 million euros - the cost of constructing a mere 250 metres of motorway.

Fraudulent Claims

Other research highlights the problem of fraudulent claims for wolf kills. Livestock can die from severe weather, illness, injury, poisoning and snake bites, while feral dogs are a problem throughout Spain and account for significant numbers of casualties.

The monthly environmental magazine Quercus has presented the results of detailed forensic research on livestock supposedly killed by wolves in Asturias and Zamora (Castilla y Leon). This showed that a small but significant percentage of compensation claims were for stock that had died from natural causes and carcasses that had been deliberately mutilated to simulate wolf damage.

In other cases, old or unproductive stock are deliberately abandoned in the mountains where they are predated by feral dogs or wolves and are then claimed as wolf kills. In Castilla y Leon, farmers receive between 3 and 6 euros per head for culling older animals, while the compensation for the same animal is 110 euros or more if it has been killed by a wolf – an incentive for unscrupulous individuals to make false claims.

Solutions

Fortunately, in some areas farmers are working with biologists to implement positive solutions. These include reestablishing traditional methods such as using mastiff dogs to guard flocks and enclosing stock at night. Education also plays a vital role in presenting a balanced view of the Iberian wolf.

Wolves are potentially an environmental and financial asset to Spain. Ecotourism in the form of wolf watching has succeeded elsewhere, and a healthy wolf population may actively benefit farmers by culling sick deer and other ungulates that can spread tuberculosis and other diseases to domestic stock.

In 1995, wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the United States, resulting in a positive effect on excessive deer populations. This has had a beneficial cascade effect on forest regeneration and the entire ecosystem.

In Spain, the wolf currently occupies only 25% of its former range and many habitats are seriously degraded, precisely because the top predators have been annihilated.

Running out of time

The Iberian wolf lives in the shadow of extinction, and concerns have been raised that the genetic viability of the species is being compromised by the "bottle necking" process of population isolation due to persecution and habitat loss. Another danger recently highlighted is hybridization between wolves and feral dogs.

it is therefore imperative that all parties interested in the future of the Iberian wolf put aside their mutual antagonisms and act immediately if this magnificent animal is to be saved from extinction.