Iberianature » hunting in Spain

Miguel Delibes dies

nick — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:45:33 +0000

The great Spanish author Miguel Delibes died on Friday 12 March. His love of the rural life and landscape of Castilla and hunting surfaced repeatedly in his books.

He won the Spanish-speaking world’s top literary award, the Premio Cervantes in 1993, along with the Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras, and was a member of the Spanish Royal Academy. The Cervantes Institute said Delibes’ passion for the countryside — and hunting — had given him a true feel for the decline of rural life and the fragility of the environment. “It is not going too far to say that this hunter who writes measures his passions with a shotgun resting on his shoulder, and in this he finds joy, anxieties and even fineness of spirit,” the institute said in a biography of Delibes.

TP notes on the forum

“The recurring theme of his works was social injustice and the contrast between rural life and modernity. His ability to portray the harshness of rural life in Castilla and the language of its people was amazing. Many of his novels deal with hunting – deeply rooted in Castilla – and his famous essay justifying his love of hunting, “La caza: mi punto de vista” , and in which he vehemently criticises the mass slaughter of captive pieces, which will undoubtedly strike a chord among some iberianatureforumers, expresses very well the sentiment of many people, hunters and critics alike.”

One of his most famous novels, “Los Santos Inocentes” (The Innocent Saints), starkly portrays the impoverished existence of peasants living under a selfish and wealthy landowner. The book was made into a movie in 1984 by Spanish director Mario Camus. Watching it was probably one of my twelve(?) odd reasons for starting iberianature. Now it’s time I read the novel…

Guardian obituary by Michael Euede

Miguel Delibes, who has died aged 89, was the 20th century’s foremost writer about Castile, Spain‘s central tableland. Born in the city of Valladolid, he lived there all his life. In his 20 novels and numerous short stories, he portrayed this provincial city, where apparently nothing much happens, but “you see people clearly, in the round. You see people live and die, and this gives a melancholy and serene drama to existence.” Passion in ordinary lives, sobriety and melancholy are the flavours of Delibes’s writing.

Wolves worth more alive than dead

nick — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:09:29 +0000

A new study by Sergi Garcia (who I do wildlife trips with) and Antonio Navarro has found that wolf tourism has become far more economic than wolf hunting in the Sierra de la Culebra. The study, presented at the Sociedad Española para la Conservación y el Estudio de los Mamíferos, simply adds up the earnings from both sectors . Earnings from wolf tourism (hotels, restaurants, varous purchases), brings in a remarkable 500,000 euros a year compared to 150.000 euros for all forms of hunting (including deer). ” Rural lodgings have increased from just 2 in 2002 to 15 in 2009. However, the study warns against the massification of tourism in the area and criticises the new wolf visitor’s centre to be opened this year in Sanabria.

More here (Estimación del impacto económico del turismo lobero en la Sierra de la Culebra).

News and photo from La Crónica Verde

New wolf documentary

nick — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 03:27:02 +0000

Very interesting 24-minute documentary about wolves in Spain here. La huella del lobo looks at the conflicts around wolves in Castilla y León where wolves are being increasingly hunted legally (113 this year will be shot at up to 9,000 euros each). The film does not take sides and gives a voice to hunters, conservationists and politicians. See also the iberianatureforum’s discusssion on this.

A good year to kill wolves in Castilla y León

nick — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:45:53 +0000

La Crónica Verde has this depressing summary (Buen año para matar lobos en Castilla y León) of the quota of wolves which can be hunted this year in Castilla y León. 142 wolves can be hunted this year, 29 more than last year. These are only the wolves killed legally. Many more will be shot illegally.

Wolf hunting

nick — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 08:30:43 +0000

The new wolf hunting management plan in Castilla y León is alarming Spanish conservationists. The price for shooting a wolf in Castilla y León is set at 3000 euros, though many more are also killied illegally, some of which because of an increasing interest among illegal hunting rings under the tacit protection of the regional government. If you can get Spanish television, Informe Semanal is to show a report on the issue on 17th January.

Fapas
EU to accept wolf hunting (IbNat) “Some 200 wolves are hunted legally every year in Spain, and many more illegally, not just in Castilla-Leon but also in Asturias where 25 wolves were killed between January 2006 and March 2007, by officials after reports of sheep deaths. In contrast, in the Sierra de la Culebra, rich hunters pay up to 18,000 euros to kill a wolf.”

Above photo: Two wolves killed illegally in Valladolid in 2006. (El Pais). The agents seems to have taken pleasure in displaying theire capture.

Poison in the Spanish countryside

Lisa — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:53:39 +0000

Poison is killing Spanish wildlife, it’s official. According to a study carried out by Ecotoxicología, with figures confirmed by the government, the number of dead animals found is only the tip of the iceberg. The study has revealed that in the last 15 years almost 7,000 animals included in the National Catalogue of Endangered Species have perished even though the practice of setting poisoned bait in the countryside has been banned since 1983. In general terms of species affected, the bodies recovered account for only between 5% and 15% of the estimated total of deaths due to poison. The author of the study and director of a forensic wildlife laboratory, one of six such centres in Spain, Mauro Hernández says the figures represent the minimum amount of casualties. Every year at least 800 animals are admitted to his laboratory alone. In the case of the Spanish Imperial eagle, the study believes that for every bird found poisoned another possible nine could be undetected. The problem is proving a stumbling block for many recovery and reintroduction programmes.

The method of setting meat laced with poison is aimed at predators in competition with man such as foxes and wolves but is indiscriminate in its killing. Even a small quantity ingested can weaken an animal and leave it vulnerable to death by other means such as collision with traffic or overhead power cables, or drowning because one of the effects of the poisons most commonly used is severe thirst. Most recent cases have been the discoveries of a Lammergeier and an Iberian lynx, both in Andalucia.

As in a previous study by WWF/Adena, “Poison in Spain, 1990-2005“, the blame is mainly directed at a small proportion of the hunting and farming communities, the administrations of which are both trying to combat the problem from within. Temporary closure of hunting reserves where poison has been discovered has been found to be insufficient but stricter penalties should help. Two hunters were recently succesfully prosecuted and sentenced to two years in prison for setting poisoned bait on a hunting estate in Lérida, Catalunya. To supplement the national SOS Poison hotline campaign, a network of predator control managers is to be established. Let’s hope that tighter regulations on the selling of the noxious substances follow.

News from El País.

More information from the Black Vulture Conservation Foundation.

Illegal hunting ring broken

Lisa — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:40:17 +0000

An important illegal hunting ring has been broken in the Cantabrian mountains of Asturias and León where two and six men respectively have been arrested. Various arms were found in their houses along with frozen and dried animal remains. Included among the boar, deer and rebeco (chamois) discoveries were specimens of endangered animals, a European Genet and a Capercaillie, the latter a species threatened with extinction in these mountains. The men were arrested following months of detective work by Seprona, the wildlife protection unit of the Guardia Civíl, and are suspected of charging money for guiding hunts as also found were large amounts of cash and paperwork stamped and ready for the transportation of the “trophies”. Other possible species to be found in the area concerned are Cantabrian brown bear and Iberian wolf. The case is continuing and more arrests are likely.

News from lne.es

Catalan government to monitor bears more closely

nick — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:56:08 +0000

Following the hysteria surrounding a hunter who was bitten by a bear last week (full story here on iberianature), the Catalan government has decided to study bears in the Pyrenees more closely and are to set up a new group to monitor the bears in the Aran valley to avoid any similar incidences in the future. Fapas have commented and point out that while this is the first incident of its kind in the Pyrenees, hunters are far more likely to suffer injuries (and death) at the hands of other hunters (20 hunters are killed by other hunters a year in Spain.) The bear in question Hvala is currently in France and so is safe for the time being from the attempts by the Aranese authorities to capture her. Ecological organisations are threatening legal action should they be successful. El Mundo

The images above (El Mundo) are the first of Hvala since the incident took place.

Follow this story on the forum as it unfolds

Illegal wolf hunting

nick — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:53:55 +0000

Illegal wolf hunting in Castilla-León is responsible for some 300 wolf deaths a year, making it practically impossible for the animal to expand. (Público)

EU to accept wolf hunting

nick — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 10:53:06 +0000

The EU is to accept the new wolf management plan of Castilla-Leon when it is approved in January 2007 which will allow wolves to hunted south of the River Duero to protect livestock, breaking a 20-year protection of the species in this area.

Two wolves killed illegally in Valladolid in 2006. (El Pais) The police seem to have enjoyed their display.

According to wolf expert Juan Carlos Blanco, wolves expanded significantly in the 1990s but this expansion, reaching the border of the region of Madrid, has halted. In the last decade the density of wolves in the area of distribution has probably increased. “This is a typical behaviour: first a big territorial expansion and then a brake to this”.

Some 200 wolves are hunted legally every year in Spain, and many more illegally, not just in Castilla-Leon but also in Asturias where 25 wolves were killed between January 2006 and March 2007, by officials after reports of sheep deaths. In contrast, in the Sierra de la Culebra, rich hunters pay up to 18,000 euros to kill a wolf.

Ecologistas en Acción is against the removal of protection. “…there is no justification. Five years ago the Spanish parliament voted to include the wolf in the National Catalogue of threatened species and not only has this not been done, but they now want to extend its hunting. Legal hunting does not replace poaching and the use of poison, it complements it”.

Wolf attacks on livestock have increased but this may not be only be due to its breeding success. The absence of carrion after the EU mad-cow ban on leaving dead livestock in the countryside has had a huge affect on wildlife on Spain and has in all surety driven wolves to attack sheep more frequently. The Junta de Castilla y Leon claim the region’s 1500 wolves kill 2,200 sheep and 220 cows a year. They claim the plan guarantees the conservation of the wolf and reduces its negative effects. The actual contents of the plan are still unclear, but sources talk of some 50 wolves a year.

El Pais

More protection demanded for rabbit

nick — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 09:09:43 +0000

WWF/Adena have demanded more protection for that most Spanish of animals the rabbit, due to its key role as a prey species for more than 40 mammals and birds, some of them like the lynx and the imperial eagle, seriously endangered. Myxomatosis and VIH have decimated rabbit populations across much of Spain and in some areas rabbits are a now a rare animal. It is estimated that rabbit numbers are barely 20% that of the pre-epidemic early 1950s, when the animal formed an essential part of the diet of many Spaniards, and when rabbit were alkmost certainly hunted far more. WWF/Adena are not asking for a ban on its hunting but rather for the hunting season to be moved as at present they are hunted in autumn and winter just before the start of their breeding season. They suggest that the hunting season be brought forward several months in line with the maximum yearly population level. It is beyond me why hunters would oppose such a measure, if indeed they do.

See also Origin of words Spain, rabbit and coney + Iberian lynx (with section on the rabbit)

Gun ownership in Spain

nick — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:03:35 +0000

According to the Geneva Graduate Institute of International Studies, gun ownership in Spain is 11% of the Spanish population. With 4,500,000 small arms, Spain is 19th in the world in gun numbers in real terms. The vast majority of these arms are held as hunting weapons with over one million hunting permits issued.

Hunting the frozen wolf

nick — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 19:19:42 +0000

There’s a remarkeble series of photos at Fnac in Barcelona (Plaza Catalunya) by Spanish photographer Ricardo Casas on the sub-culture of hunting in Spain. The exhibition is entitled “Hunting the frozen wolf”. Brutal, repulsive, surreal and poetic. Read critique here

Exhibition is here. Ricardo Casas also has online exhibitions on Rustic Golf, Tuning and Torrevieja here