The wolf, living with the free

Update.

In September 2021, the Iberian wolf (Canis lupus) was included in the List of Species under Special Protection Regime (Lespre). The autonomous community of Castilla y León legislated, and classified in Law 4/2021 on hunting and sustainable management of hunting resources in Castilla y León, cataloguing the populations of the Iberian wolf located north of the Douro as a hunting species, subject to the authorization of the corresponding administrative authorization.

In July 2022, the Plenary of the Constitutional Court Declare them unconstitutional and null and void for competitive reasons the precepts of the Castilla y León Hunting Act that allowed wolf hunting north of the Duero River. Good news for the ecosystem and the species.

Living with the Free Wolf

The day when Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente Did the great die Mingote He published in his daily ABC cartoon a grieving wolf looking up at the stars crying. Today, 40 years later, after the announcement of MITECO to modify the RD 139/2011 of February 4 to confer on all Iberian wolf populations the status of a protected species, an atavistic and secular debate full of complexities, philias and phobias capable of unleashing extreme positions, both for and against their protection, is reopened. Will we be able to live with the free wolf?

Origins of the relationship

It is well known that the relationship between human beings and the great predators of our ecosystems has always been truculent. In the specific case of the wolf, its deep penetration into human culture is of such magnitude that for centuries it has occupied an incomparable place in the collective imagination of people. And, despite the fact that Roman mythology turned the wolf in the Capitol into the adoptive mother of Romulus and Remus, seeking a hybridization between the human and nature, or that Rudyard Kipling blessed the wolves in his famous work El Jungle Book, The reality is that the image of this great predator does not stand out well in literature, fables or legends.

Presented to children from their earliest childhood as the antagonist of all stories, as an animal that looks like a thug and greedy for blood capable of the worst misdeeds, human folklore has built around this animal a ruthless and cruel tale full of biases that are often unfounded.

But what causes are at the origin of this stormy relationship between humans and the wolf? For Fernando Sancho, professor of Applied Ecology at the University of Seville (2018), there are three reasons that would explain this perception of the wolf. The first is a purely ecological question. The wolf and human beings shared, thousands of years ago, the same space and competed for the same resources. Paleolithic hunting groups had to compete with another large predator perfectly adapted to the environment and organized into clans, with better sense of smell and vision, more resistant in the race and with a perfect knowledge of the territory and prey. There, without a doubt, that ancient antagonism began.

On the other hand, explains Professor Sancho, the presence of human beings in the mountains intensified dramatically after the 13th century with the development of La Mesta and the expansion of livestock farming. Forests were broken to create artificial meadows where cattle could be grazed and mountain areas rich in nutritious pastures were occupied for livestock farms. Therefore, there was an 'invasion' of the wolf's preferred habitats, causing a permanent conflict of friction with the species that, deprived of its space and potential prey, attacked cattle sheaths to continue to feed and survive.

Finally, there is a third reason with powerful cultural roots, especially in countries with a Judeo-Christian tradition, where the lamb represents a symbol of Western religion, causing a predator of this allegorical emblem to have been demonized to the point of exhaustion.

What conflict does it entail

However, MITECO's decision to ban wolf hunting in Spain has been met with mixed feelings:

• For the conservation movement, it is a historic triumph for which they have been fighting for decades.
• For ranchers and other sectors linked to farming, this is nonsense that threatens their economic interests and their efforts to earn a living and prosper in rural Spain.

The decision, however, marks a milestone in our country's environmental legislation, requiring that our interests as a society do not always prevail over the right to wildlife.

Therefore, measures to seek that desired balance must be a priority on the agenda of public administrations, such as encouraging farmers with grants and subsidies to purchase good quality metal fences to protect sheepfolds, electric shepherds or mastiffs that deter wolf attacks with their presence and, of course, setting up specific and sufficient provisions to compensate for the loss of cattle that their herds suffer.

An undoubtedly complex situation, but one that responds to the concerns of a society that is increasingly sensitized and aware of the environment, favoring the famous Noah's principle, and must be able to balance the development of our society and the exploitation of natural resources with the conservation and respect of wildlife, especially that of a symbol of the wildest and wildest Spain, a totemic animal, a pulsating symbol of our forests and mountains that must be our country's environmental heritage.

Perhaps Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente's dream of a Spain whose nights the howling of the wolf will always be heard is now closer than ever. An exciting challenge that will help us to live and live with the free wolf. Living with the free.