| Return of the Iberian Wolf |
On our random travels through Northern Spain and the Pyrenees this
summer we found ourselves in the village of Gósol in the Sierra
de Cadí in the Catalan Pre-Pyrenees. Gósol's main claim
to fame is having accommodated a young Pablo Picasso in the summer of
1906, something it proudly exploits today with reproductions in the
local museum of the few pieces he did while staying in the village, and
a bronze sculpture of a woman which Picasso had painted in the village
square. The village is also one of bases for climbing the
myth-enshrouded twin-peaked mountain of Pedraforca , a bastion of the
Catalan witching and mountaineering traditions. The landscape of black
pine forests and limestone crags is rugged and spectacular. The day we
arrived the headline in the local press was that a “starving” wolf had
slaughtered several head of cattle in broad daylight. The wolf, a male,
the first in Catalonia for more than 70 years, first hit the news in
spring 2004. It is thought to be Italian in origin, having made its way
over the Pyrenees from the Maritime Alps in southern France into the
Cadí range, apparently having slowly wandered over the years
from the Italian Apennines on its own paws (wolves can travel up to
90km in a single day). If true, it is a testament to the remarkable
resilience and resurgence of one of man's traditional enemies, though
many locals suspect that the wolf has been introduced by Park rangers
as a lure for tourists. Nevertheless, most locals appear to be
ambivalent rather than hostile towards its presence. The last Catalan
wolf was shot in Terra Alta in the south of the Principality in 1929,
though the animal is thought to have disappeared from the Sierra de
Cadí more than 100 years ago.
Spain is one of the last remaining refuges of the European wolf. The
population is slowly recovering from its 1970 low of 400-500 odd
individuals with current (2003) figures estimated at as many as 2,500,
almost 30% of European wolf numbers outside the ex-USSR. There are
several reasons for the rise in the wolf population.
Firstly, until the early 1970s the wolf was ‘officially' considered as
a pest, and the government paid out bounties for dead wolves and
distributed strychnine to landowners and peasants. At the time, many
saw the wolf as a mark of a Third World country, in contrast to
‘civilized' nations like France and Britain who had successfully
eradicated their wolf plagues. On occasions in the past, persecution
was widespread and crushing. An act passed by Principality of Asturias
details that between March and December 1816, bounties were paid out
for the death of 76 adult and 414 young wolves at 160 reales for an
adult wolf and 32 for a wolf cub. The historian Juan Pablo Torrente
concluded that the hunting of wild beasts, including wolves, bears and
foxes represented, ‘in absolute and relative terms, a considerable
source of wealth' for local populations. The lobero or wolf-hunter was
a respected county figure until relatively recently, and a whole range
of ingenious traps have been devised over the centuries to catch
wolves. All are now illegal. It is however still legal to hunt wolves
in most of Spain. In most of its range, the Law states that the species
must be respected as long as it does not come into conflict with human
interests. While hunting itself does not necessarily pose a big threat
for the Iberian wolf, as most hunts end in failure, the Law gives carte
blanche for indiscriminate hunting in most areas. North of the River
Duero, only the municipality of Muelas de los Caballeros in north of
Zamora, where the densest Spanish wolf populations are found, has shown
any real interest for its conservation. Protection is, however, much
stronger south of the Duero where the wolf populations are far more
fragile.
Secondly, in the last 40 years there has been a huge migration of
people from the country to the towns. This depopulation has led to the
regeneration of natural vegetation in former agricultural areas and the
huge increase in prey species such as roe deer and boar. Just drive or
take a train across central and northern Spain and you will appreciate
the immensity and emptiness of the landscape, and it potential to
support rich and varied fauna.
Thirdly, people's attitudes have changed. While there is still much
suspicion, when not outright hate, among some rural populations, many
in Spain now see the wolf as an animal worthy of protection. That great
Spanish populist of nature, Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente,
played no small part in this conversion. Millions of homes in Spain in
the nineteen-seventies were captivated by his television series, ‘El
Hombre y la Tierra', of which the wolf was the star of the show.
Rodríquez used wolves he had raised himself from cubs living in
a semi-wild fenced estate for the film. But, for all its trickery, the
episode on el lobo still stand out as superb and beautiful piece of
nature documentary and holds a rightful place in contemporary Spanish
folk memory.
The Iberian wolf is considered by some specialists as a sub-species (
Canis lupus signatus) of Canis lupus, though this is rejected by many
in the field. It is said to be distinguished by the black marks along
its tail, back, jowls and front legs, and so signatus meaning marked.
More than 50 % are found in Northern Castilla y León (1000-1.500
individuals), and less than 35% in Galicia (500-700), with the densest
population in North-eastern Zamora (5-7 wolves/100km2). Though wolves
were once present throughout the Peninsula, they are now confined to
the North-east (Asturias, Leon, Northern Castilla, Galicia), and a few
residual populations in the Sierra Morena (Jaén and Cuenca).
Recently, however they have managed to cross back over the modern-day
barrier of the river Duero and begun to spread southwards and
eastwards: two packs have been detected around Guadalajara and have
started to move into Teruel in southern Aragon, much to the amazement
and trepidation (and at first disbelief) of the locals. The wolf in
Spain is no longer considered endangered, merely vulnerable, though the
Sierra Morena and Extremaduran populations are classified as critically
endangered, and the latter is almost certainly extinct. Wolves in the
Sierra Morena inhabit private game estates where they are illegally
persecuted as they come into conflict with the hunting practices of the
rich. Across the border in Portugal, there are reckoned to be between
46 and 62 packs.
The ideal habitat for wolves in Spain encompasses a low human
population density (less than 10 inhabitants/km2), protective cover
against man, and a high density of prey species such as roe deer and
boar, though given the famed adaptability of the wolf to different
environs, probably the single most important factor is the native human
population's tolerance of the species in a given area. Spanish wolf
diet varies enormously depending on the area. While Galician wolves
partly feed off the remains of chicken and pig farms, Cantabrian wolves
take red and roe deer and wild boar, and almost 50% of the diet of the
wolves in the Castilian cereal belt is thought to be rabbits. However,
their biggest source of nutrition is livestock, most of which was taken
as carrion, though with the recent EU's banning of leaving dead animals
in the field because of fear of mad cow's disease, wolves are killing
more living sheep and cows. This has become increasingly a source of
friction
In 1988, wolves were estimated to have killed some 1,200 horses and
donkeys, 450 cows and 5,000 sheep and goats, representing a total loss
of 720,000 euros. The figures are no doubt higher now, but over the
wolf's full range (100,000 km2) these loses are tiny in comparison with
other natural causes which regularly afflict farmers and herders
(disease, inclement weather) but they can represent a serious problem
for livestock raisers in certain local areas. 77% of livestock deaths
occur in mountainous areas where extensive farming practices are
prevalent. Indeed, with just 15% of the 2,000 Spanish wolves, the
Cantabrian wolves cause 70% of the damage to livestock. Clearly it is
not that the Cantabrian wolves are any more aggressive, but rather that
they find easy pickings in the plentiful livestock which graze in
semi-freedom here. Unfortunately, wolves like many carnivores
frequently get so excited by the blood and slaughter that they kill far
more numbers of a flock than they need. In Spanish these attacks are
known as lobadas. One study in Burgos showed an average of 7.6 sheep
killed for every lobada. As another great Spanish naturalist Miguel
Delibes once said, ‘the wolf is its own worse enemy'.
Wolf management is no easy task. They draw highly conflicting stances
and beliefs, from an idealisation on the part of the urban population
to the pragmatics of the rural populace. One of Spain's specialists on
the species, Juan Carlos Blanco, noted; “what makes this conflict
strange, what turns the management of the wolf into a nightmare, is the
symbolic nature of the species, which unleashes hidden tensions in
society and brings to the surface seething emotions which confer on the
problem a high degree of irrationality.” The excessive
wolf-friendliness of some urbanite ecologists does not exactly help to
enamour the rural population with the wolf. And all too often the
farmers’ view is based on greed, ignorance and even hate as is
evidenced week in week out in articles in the local press of wolf areas
of Spain in which farmers, often goaded on by Partido Popular
counsellors vastly inflate damage caused by the wolf. This reached surreal proportions in 2000 when Asturian sheep farmers put in
compensation claims for more sheep killed by wolves than actually existed in
the Principality at the time.
The solution undoubtedly is a mixed bag including: use of traditional
mastiff dogs to protect flocks, bringing back the old practice of
closing livestock in for the night instead of leaving them untethered
in the mountain pastures –increasingly and understandably farmers work
only part time with their livestock, and so their animals are left up
in the hills alone-, allowing prey species such as roe deer and chamois
to grow unchecked by hunting, promoting tolerance for the wolf through
educational programmes, reducing tensions between the different
parties, encouraging dialogue, and perhaps most importantly the swift
and full payment of compensation by the authorities for livestock
killed.
As everywhere else, superstitions around the wolf abound. There are
said to be some 70 traditional expressions (amigo, el otro, tío
Juan) that can be pronounced so that the speaker can avoid saying the
word lobo, as the creature can be invoked at the merest utterance of
the word. The first human records of the wolf in the Iberian Peninsula
are in cave paintings such as those in Los Arcos (Jaén) and Tajo
de las Figuras (Cadiz). Later, the wolf is a common animalistic motif
in ancient Iberian vases, urns and dishes, usually reflecting the
infernal character of the beast. In pre-Roman Spain, the wolf was
strongly associated with the afterlife, this no doubt coming from
wolves' habit of taking dead humans as carrion. However, the veritable
fear and hate of the wolf appears to date from the Middle Ages when
there was a widespread dread of the supposed occult powers of nature.
It is at this time when fantastic creatures like werewolves begin to
appear in many legends particularly in the west of the Peninsula.
Hombres-lobo are known as lobishomes in Galicia. They are often
associated with the curse of a parent. One such story adapted and
translated from ‘Leyendas españolas de todos los tiempos'
by José María Merino (Temas de Hoy. 2000) goes something
like this:
Many years ago, there was a lass from
Leon who could be seen wandering around the Caurel hills in the
borderlands with El Bierzo. She had been cursed by her father and had
gone mad. The girl, it seems, loved meat. She ate so much of it that
one day her father lost his temper and bid her go to the mountains to
live with the wolves where she could satiate herself with flesh to her
heart's delight.
The spell took a-hold and that
very night the girl headed for the hills. After rolling about for some
time on the forest floor, she turned into a she-wolf. Sometimes in the
form of a wolf and others in the form of a woman, she slowly made her
way to Galicia where in her wolf-form she became chieftain of a wolf
tribe which caused great harm to livestock and people alike, although
it is said that when she took on her human form she would build a
bonfire and prevent her wolves from doing harm to anyone. Once, for
example she is said to have stopped the wolves from attacking some
Portuguese travellers who were smuggling salt.
After many years, the spell
was broken unintentionally by a miller. The wolf-woman would often
sneak into his mill and eat the flour. One night though, the miller
happened to be sleeping there and was awoken by a scuffling sound. It
was the she-wolf trying to get in under the door. The miller grabbed
his knife and drove it into the wolf's paw. There was a terrible howl
and then a scream, and then the wolf hide fell away from the figure
revealing a naked woman.
At first, the girl did not know where
she was. All the villagers were fascinated by her story and wanted to
know where she was from. Finally, she returned to her land and was
received in her home with much rejoicing. When the harvest came around,
Galician reapers journeyed to the village from the lands where they had
known her as a she-wolf. After conversing with them, she began to
remember the places where, under her father's spell, she had committed
all those fell deeds, and especially the handsome boy she had killed
and greedily devoured in the depths of the forest.
In Extremadura, León and Asturias the animal was often killed to
ward of potentially evil events such as a llobadío –a wicked
curse transmitted by the wolf's gaze. Clearly, behind all the
mumbo-jumbo the real reason for the historical and hysterical hate of
the wolf lies in the fact that man and wolf compete for the same
resources; the proteins from game and livestock.
Another tradition based on firmer ground is the existence of half-wolf,
half-dog hybrids, particularly in the Asturian folklore tradition, in
which tame wolves (known as lobos de jaulas – caged wolves) are
released into the hills to unleash havoc. A modern version of this has
recently hit the news in Asturias where the government and livestock
farmers have warned of the presence of such crossovers. Unusual
behaviour has been detected among certain wolf individuals, which
instead of fleeing at the sight of humans, stay and stare, albeit at a
distance. They are reported to be attacking sheep and cows in broad
daylight and close to villages. Many farmers are blaming the increase
in attacks on livestock in some areas on these dog-wolves. Some experts
claim that the hybrids have inherited the wolf's ferocity and the
domestic dog's lack of fear of humans. The theory goes that a hybrid
might have arisen through the mating of a lonely, old male wolf and a
young female dog. The other way round would be impossible. As one
expert put it, ‘the female wolf would have the male dog for breakfast'.
The former coupling would raise hybrid pups which would then protect
them from wolf attacks. They would then begin to form a pack and
attract new adepts. The Asturian government claims to be in possession
of a photo of one such coupling with its hybrid cubs, but strangely
refuses to release it as ‘it is scientific material under study'.
Unlike the farmers, the government believes dog-wolves are exceptional
and isolated cases, though it currently is concentrating its wolf
culling efforts on eradicating such crossovers.
In contrast, the leading wildlife protection group FAPAS in the area is
highly sceptical of the existence of the beast. They believe such a
coupling to be impossible because a wolf will always kill a dog given
half the chance. It also believes that feral dogs are not to blame
either, as, unlike the rest of Spain, wolf country is virtually free of
wild dogs: wolves just hunt them down and kill them. Instead they put
the blame on domestic dogs: as Roberto Hartasánchez, the
organisation's president, put it, “they go out at night and attack
livestock. Then spend their days sleeping on the fireside rug at home.
They are uncontrolled dogs, but they are not wild. In rural Asturias,
most dogs are not fed at home. Where do you think they eat?... It's
just easier to blame the wolf.
The old presence of wolves is given away by many placenames throughout
Spain and well beyond the wolf's present-day range. For example,
Cantallops (wolf song) in Catalonia. Lobo is a common surname as is the
Basque surname Otxoa written Ochoa in Castilian from Otsoa the Basque
for wolf.
They may more than 2500 wolves in Spain but if you want to see one in
the wild, you’re going to have to be persistent or lucky or both.
Spanish wolves have long learnt to be wary of humans and so actual
sightings are rare. Proof of this lies in the fact that most wolf hunts
organised legally or illegally end in total failure. Even wolf experts
out in the field might go weeks without actually seeing one. The best
chance is probably Northern Zamora, where the highest wolf densities
are found. There are a couple of organisations which organise
wolf-watching trips although they tend to concentrate on looking for
tracks etc. The Barcelona-based wildlife organisation, Galanthus,
periodically organises wolf-watching trips to the Sierra de la Culebra
in Zamora (608 26 30 70.- www.asgalanthus.org).
Alternatively, you can see captive Spanish wolves in largish
enclosures, here...
Centro de Naturaleza Cañada Real (Fundación J. M. Blanc)
Peralejo (Madrid). Near San Lorenzo del Escorial.
Tel. 91 319 82 14
Fax 91 319 79 91
Note: Follow these two links for pictures and related info: wolf
and wolves
|
|
|
Following on from the excellent article we have been able to visit a local Lobo Park and had a brilliant 4 hours viewing 4 different species of wolf, playing with a young wolf before it was released into the large compounds and being royally treated by the owner. If anyone wants further info they are welcome to contact me and I will give them the web address.
------------------------------------Updated contact details for the Cañada Real centre (Peralejo, near El Escorial, Madrid): tel. 91 890 6980 / 91 890 8748, fax 91 890 0451. www.opennature.com/guiaing
More places to see captive Iberian wolves...
- Vado de los Fresnos. Candeleda (Ávila). Run by the same foundation as the nature park in Peralejo.
- Centro de Naturaleza La Dehesa. Riópar (Albacete)
- Parque de Cabárceno (Cantabria)
http://www.aeza.es/zoos/cabarceno/
------------------------------------Other place to see captives iberian wolves in Spain it¨´s in Cuenca province (Castilla-La Mancha). In the gun reserve "El Hosquillo" where Felix Rodriguez de la Fuente filmed nature films with captives wolves, bears and deers. Sergio Ovidio Pinedo Valero , March 03, 2005
------------------------------------A nice summary. Just one minor quibble, though. Your text says...
"... and a few residual populations in the Sierra Morena (Jaén and Cuenca)"
But, as Cuenca is nowhere near Sierra Morena I think it should say...
"... and a few residual populations in the Sierra Morena (Jaén and Ciudad Real)"
Andy Cole , March 11, 2005
------------------------------------ |
|
|
| |
