ARCHIVED - Hunters face trial in central Spain accused of killing wolf

Ecologists seek to protect the Iberian wolf while farmers bemoan rising number of attacks on livestock

The trial has begun in Ávila of two hunters accused of illegally killing a wolf during an organized hunt in Tornadizos de Ávila on 29^th November 2015, the first case of its kind to come to court in Spain.

In this part of the country, around 90 minutes’ drive to the west of Madrid, wolves are a protected species and their killing is expressly prohibited (although further north their hunting is permitted in certain circumstances), and the case has been brought jointly by Ecologistas en Acción, Lobo Marley and Anadel. If found guilty the two hunters could each face prison sentences of up to two years and be banned from hunting for 4 years, as well as hefty fines and the obligation to pay compensation of 9,261 euros for the death of the animal.

One member of the hunting party involved in the incident stated while giving evidence yesterday that during the day he suddenly saw a wolf just 40 or 50 metres in front of him, at which point he heard three shots fired and the animal disappeared. This has led to the chief suspect being the man who occupied the nearest position to him in the hunting group, but the prosecution appears to face a significant obstacle in securing a guilty verdict because the body of the wolf has never been found.

On the other hand, though, officers of the Seprona wildlife protection wing of the Guardia Civil have found traces of hair and blood which they are “99.9 per cent certain” comes from the Canis lupus signatus species (the Iberian wolf). In addition, the analysis of the trajectory of bullets which were damaged branches of a nearby bush point to the location where the two men facing charges were stationed.

The accused, only one of whom holds a valid hunting licence, deny having even seen a wolf and claim that they fired at a large boar, although other members of the hunting party recall a wolf being talked about during the lunch the group enjoyed later. 24 boar and a fox were also shot.

For some years now the Iberian wolf has been making something of a comeback in terms of its numbers in the wild in northern Spain. In 2013 it was confirmed that a pair of wolves were successfully rearing four cubs in the mountains of the Sierra de Guardarrama between Madrid and Segovia, marking the return of the species to a habitat where it had become extinct 70 years previously, and within five years as many as 40 wolves were living in the area in at least five packs.

As their numbers grow, so too does the area in which they live and hunt, and they have now spread well into the region of Madrid from the provinces of Segovia and Ávila as they search for new hunting grounds. This has been made possible by the abundance of food in the form of wild boar and goats, although of course at the same time cattle farmers are increasingly aware of the threat posed to their animals by the presence of the canine predators: in fact, the regional government of Castilla y León (of which the province of Ávila is a part) is considering making it legal for farmers to shoot wolves on sight on their land.

Last year it is reported that there more than 1,400 wolf attacks on cattle in the province of Ávila alone, and double that number in the region of Castilla y León.

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