The possible presence of wolves in Catalonia, where there are four or five isolated males from France, has prompted the Climate Protection Department of the Generalitat to create a working group on dogs with representatives from the livestock, environmental and animal welfare sectors. Foresters who follow the animal’s tracks in the Autonomous Community to improve the relationship between the wolf and the places where conflicts may arise.
Although only two solitary females have been discovered in Catalonia in the last 20 years and the government has denied that there is evidence of reproduction, experts assure that it is a matter of time before the number of specimens increases naturally. In fact, given the strong growth in various parts of Europe where they recover naturally, Brussels is considering making the conditions under which these animals can be killed more flexible.
The aim of the working group formed by the government is to minimize conflicts that could arise due to a possible reproductive presence of the wolf in Catalonia and the increase in specimens that could attack livestock in rural areas of Catalonia. The Ministry of Climate Protection wants to prevent another case like the rebellious goat bear, which carried out up to 27 attacks on livestock farms in the Catalan and French Pyrenees in 2018. His victims included mares, foals and sheep.
The Grup Llop Catalunya, a platform committed to the recovery of the wolf in Catalonia and which will be part of this new government space, already asked the government in May to set up this commission to protect the presence of the wolf and prevent possible attacks .
At the beginning of the 20th century, wolf populations in Catalonia virtually disappeared. From 2003 onwards, the first identifications began, particularly in the areas of Cadí and Ripollès. Twenty years later, there is no established breeding population of wolves in Catalonia, although there are isolated individuals of Italian-Alpine origin, which are animals that come from the natural range of the wolf population found in France.
This year, 2023, only damage caused by the wolf has been confirmed in the Moianès region (Barcelona), where Rural Agents have confirmed that it has already been in the area for about two years.
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