The barbery sheep has been spared wholesale execution.

And reserved for the pleasure of the hunters.

One of the sights which gives the greatest pleasure to expats visiting the Sierra Espuña is that of a flock of Barbery sheep, or Arruí, as they´re called in the region of Murcia, perched on a hillside or rocky outcrop on the hillsides of the Sierra Espuña.

Whilst for the hunting fraternity they´re a valuable prey, agriculturalists and ecologists have been campaigning to have them completely erradicated from the region, as not only are they not a native species, but also cause extensive damage to crops.

Now the Barbary sheep has been saved from the chop in the Region of Murcia due to its being classified as a species of hunting interest in the catalogue of exotic invasive species published this Monday in the official state bulletin.

The future of the species is safe only in the Region of Murcia, though. In the rest of the country it is considered an invasive species, and as such it will be eliminated due to the damage it causes to indigenous species of mammals such as the mountain goat in many parts of the country.

The protection of the animal will, however, be subject to certain conditions imposed by the Ministry for the Environment on the regional government in Murcia, the most important among them being that the species should not be allowed to spread to other regions. Should this occur, the Royal Decree permits the use of hunting to limit the spread of the African ungulate outside the areas delimited within the Region of Murcia. Hunting is already the preferred method to control the Barbary sheep population in Murcia, and this is what has conditioned the Ministrys decision to allow it to remain in the region to a limited degree.

This goes against the opinions of both ecologists and farmers, who have repeatedly requested that it should be eradicated completely, due to the fact that it is an invasive species and can cause serious damage to crops. Just a couple of months ago a formal request was made to this effect by landowners in the area, stating that the animal had been brought to the area from the Atlas mountains in the 1970s only for hunting purposes, and that it should be eliminated from Sierra Espuña and the rest of the Region. They say that the Barbary sheep brings no economic benefit to the Region of Murcia, and in fact causes a loss of revenue by destroying crops as well as other indigenous fauna. According to Rubén Vives of Ecologistas en Acción, preserving and protecting its presence here is a waste of both time and money, particularly in the north-west of the Region where the animal strays into Murcia from outside the province. It would be understandable, he says, to preserve the animal only in the hunting reserve, but to allow it to remain in the whole region is very negative.

The only people happy with the legislation published on Monday appear to be the hunters. José Antonio Moreno, president of the Regions hunting association, says that it is "very good news", and will bring both satisfaction to hunters and economic benefit to the Region. Now that Murcia is the only part of Spain where the Barbary sheep will continue to be present, this will attract hunters from all over Spain to the Region, he adds.

Hunting is big business in the North and north-west of the region, hunters paying thousands to have the opportunity to hunt big game such as these arrui and red deer which have recently been reintroduced into the north-west , the tourism revenue from hunting a welcome addition to the other tourism activities providing local employment.