Abstract
Wolf management in Spain is remarkably different at regional scales. South of Douro river, wolves are protected, north of Douro wolves can be hunted, and culling occurs on both sides. After a formal request to include wolves in the Spanish Red List of Threatened Species, wolves have been “listed,” but not as a vulnerable species. Recreational hunting will no longer be a wolf management option, while culling is still allowed. We describe the process to raise wolf protection at the state level, and the factors that should be relevant to guide apex-predator management. Restricting lethal control and favoring predator-prey interactions by reducing livestock depredation should be more feasible with an overarching policy that is binding over the whole range of the species in Spain.
Highlights
Large carnivores are recolonizing former grounds in Europe (Chapron et al, 2014) and North America (Bruskotter and Shelby, 2010), yet carnivore recovery pace and success vary across regions
Lethal control of wolves is often used as a “biopolitical” action to affect social values, supposedly producing social tolerance for wolves (Anderson, 2021)
Hunting and culling of wolves and economic compensation for damages attributed to the species are the main tools of wolf management in Spain, omitting, deliberately or not, demographic and ecological components that should matter for apex predator conservation
Summary
Large carnivores are recolonizing former grounds in Europe (Chapron et al, 2014) and North America (Bruskotter and Shelby, 2010), yet carnivore recovery pace and success vary across regions.
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