THE IBERIAN WOLF

LAURA FERNÁNDEZ MONTERO B00950628

Image by Julien Riedel

ABOUT THE IBERIAN WOLF
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The Iberian Wolf (Canis lupus signatus) is a species that has been hunted for centuries in Spain, up until the year of 1970, when it almost went extinct. Since 1970, wolves in the Iberian Peninsula were no longer regarded as a pest but as a hunting species thanks to the work of the Spanish activist and naturalist  Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente. De la Fuente’s work helped to change the habits that had been built up for generations on wolf hunts and regulated them in time and form based on the hunting normative. Ever since then, several regulations such as the Berne Convention (1986) have been passed which further protect the Iberian wolf.

WOLF ADVENTURE - FÉLIX RODRIGUEZ DE LA FUENTE (1969)

In the period of 2012 to 2014 the Autonomous Communities of Spain carried out a fieldwork with the help of the Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge. Since 2014, some Autonomous Communities have continued their yearly estimates in order to keep track of the species’ population in the country.

The species has expanded its distribution area during the last 15 to 20 years, mainly towards the center of the Peninsula, as well as towards the areas of northern sub-plateau plains. The Iberian Wolf is a generalist species in terms of habitat selection, adapting to numerous situations and prey. That is why potential future changes in the ecosystem due to global warming are not expected to affect the species in any significant way.

Source: MITECO (July 2022)

POPULATION TREND

From 2012 to 2014, based on two studies carried out by the Artemisan Foundation on September 2023, there were 317 accounted wolf packs, including those shared. Meanwhile, from 2019-2022 the total number wentup to 400, which shows a positive increase of 26%  in the number of wolf packs in Spain.

If the data from each Autonomous Community is analyzed, the increase in the number of packs in Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Galicia, La Rioja y Madrid. There is a lack of packs in Andaluzía, while in the Autonomous Communities of Aragón, Cataluña, and Extremadura it has not been possible to get an estimate oftheir number of packs, even though there is a record of packs in them.

  • INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF WOLF PACKS IN SPAIN 26% 26%

Source: MITECO (July 2022)

KNOWN CAUSES OF DEATH

Generally, the main threat to wolves is the unnatural mortality rates they suffer. The information on these causes has been provided by each Autonomous Community, showing the period from 2016 to 2020. Nonetheless, it is important to keep in mind that these numbers are mainly used as a guideline, as no scientific methodologies have been used to obtain such information. 

Following this train of thought, it can be said that the mortality on roads, where the finding of remains is relatively easy, can be overestimated in comparison to other causes of death. 

In the last years, the Protection Service of Nature of the Civil Guard has recounted up to 8 offenses and 28 legal violations between the years 2011 to 2020, concerning cases of wolf mortality. 

OFFENSES

LEGAL OFFENSES

PROTECTING THE IBERIAN WOLF

Even though the Iberian wolf is not an endangered species, as it is not included in the Spanish Catalogue of Endangered Species, it meets the requirements to have a legal strategy as one.

Several different factors recommend the creation of a national strategy for the Iberian wolf, in which its distribution among the peninsula, its extensive feeding areas, its threats, social interest, and socioeconomic implications. This last interest rests on the Iberian Wolf being a main livestock predator, and having a great environmental, scientific, cultural, and symbolic value. 

In the wild childhood of Burgos’ plateau, I asked my good nannies from the moor to tell me a story about wolves, and with these stories I fell asleep, lulled by the security of the house, sweet and comfortable.

Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente

Spanish Naturalist and Broadcaster

Source: Gustavo Higueruela (2020)

DAMAGE PREVENTION STRATEGIES

Wolf Packs have grown in areas surrounded by livestock breeding, this led to the creation of the project Life COEX, which looks to create habitats cohabitation by extensive livestock breeding areas and big carnivores. This project showed guardian dogs and protected enclosures as effective methods to prevent losses in the number of livestock heads.

MONETARY INVESTMENTS BY EACH AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY

Spain’s Autonomous Communities have carried out a monetary investments in order to introduces preventing measurements which include: guardian animals, enclosures, visual and/or aural repellent disuassives, livestock management…

Source: MITECO (July 2022)

WHAT ROLE DOES THE IBERIAN WOLF PLAY IN LIVESTOCK DEATH?

Source: Naturaleza Cantábrica (2017)

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Percentage of Wolf Related Deaths in Livestock

The Iberian wolf is the cause of 0.77% of livestock deaths, having only 230 deaths recounted out of a total of 29896 livestock heads including ovines, bovines, equines, and others. This data has been taken from the census carried out in the Spanish National Park of Picos de Europa, the only National Park in the country where a regular presence of wolves can be found.

Despite what many people belive, the wolf is only responsible for less than 1% of livestock deaths in Spain

Javier Talegón

Graduate in Biology, University of Salamanca

Source: Agronews Castilla y León

Image by Wirestock