There has long been in place a ban on hunting wolves in Spain as they were an endangered species, but this might now change, thanks to a proposal by regional governments where there are wolf populations.
The decision taken was at a conference were all regional representatives were present together with the Spanish Minister for the Environment and was based on a report carried out by Galicia (PP run) which claimed that the conservation status was favourable, in contrast another report prepared by the Central Government, which advocated for maintaining the current level of protection for the Canis lupus.
Ministry sources rejected the Xunta de Galicia‘s, analysis, which they view as an “alternative proposal,” because it does not align with the methodological and reporting criteria established by the European Commission.
Whilst the Central Government opposed lifting the ban, the majority of regional governments with wolf populations sided with Galicia, except for the Basque Country, Cataluña, and Castilla-La Mancha, which abstained
The situation puts environmentalists in the opposite corner to livestock farmers and hunters. In light of the six-year report’s analysis, Ecologistas en Acción requested to maintain the ban, calling for politics to be left aside, urging attention only to “solid, transparent scientific information” and to leave partisan interests and economic sectors aside.
They were referring to Galicía, which is in the hands of the PP conservatives as well as, Cantabria, and Castilla y León, which are pushing to lift the ban using several different arguments.
As a result of the conferrence, the report will be sent to the European Commission with conclusions on the conservation level of the wolf, its habitat, and its expansion zones.
Several livestock sector associations, including ASAJA, COAG, and UPA, complained about being “excluded” from the public consultation of the 6-year report, as they had not been “institutionally” notified. They stated that their position was sent to the Directorate-General for Biodiversity without receiving any “acknowledgment of receipt or response.”
Editorial comment: livestock farmers, especially in Galicia, have been plagued by wolf attack on their cattle and sheep. They do receive compensation for the loss or injury to their livestock but they consider that the money received does not reflect the real value of the animal.
Editorial comment: your thoughts, Gazette Readers?
(Galicia, Spain)
Keywords: Wolf Attacks On Cattle, Ban On Hunting, Vote To Lift Ban, Central Government, Xunta De Galicia, Hunters, Livestock Farmers, European Commission
news, galicia, spain, wolf attacks on cattle, ban on hunting, vote to lift ban, central government, xunta de galicia, hunters, livestock farmers, european commission
Fair enough.
You see, when I came out here in 1981, the PP was called the Alianza Popular, because it grouped together all the right-wing parties, including the Falangistas and Fuerza Nueva, both of whom were Franco nostalgists and radical right.
They then changed their name to Partido Popular arguably to disguise the fact that it was really an amalgamation of centrist and far right parties. Then, after the Gürtel and other corruption scandals encompassing the party right across the country, the far-right, Vox, decided to split from the PP, which is why we have them now.
The PP, knowing that they can’t hold down regional governments in Andalucia, Aragón, Castilla-Leon, Extremadura and now Andalucía, teaming up with Vox. In fact, until 2024 they formed regional coalitions with vox in the Balearic Islands, Valencia and Murcia, as well.
The Spanish left has always been divided – it was never a uniform party covering everything from centre left to extreme left. We used to have Santiago Carillo, who was the head of the communist party, who was later ousted and the far-left (communists and other) united under Julio Anguita to form the Izquierda Unida. But even so, there were still two left wing parties, the centrists PSOE and the far-left, IU.
Whereas Podemos (which sprang up, formed during the long-lasting occupation of the main square in Madrid, in protest, following the Housing Bubble bursting in 2008) has had its moment of glory and shrivelled away, whereas as Vox on the extreme right, has become stronger and stronger, thanks to “a helping hand” from the US and Russia (the same has happened all over Europe and Britain is no exception).
How did we get here? Well, the two main parties in the bipartisan struggle (PSOE/PP) are both guilty of corrosive corruption, leading to the average Spaniard looking for alternatives.
Finally, it doesn’t matter whether you can vote here or not because those that can will decide your future so it is best to keep abreast of things, perhaps.
It’s not a commentary on my political views. Infact, I like all foreigners in Spain, don’t have a vote on national or regional matters so I don’t take a view. If I was to choose I would sack all politicians and have a technocracy.
I was just pointing out that there was an error of fact in the article and also displaying how indeed the same message can be delivered in many different ways. Just like 300 million from the NHS on the side of a bus was a way of presenting information with 1 view point.
I believe that it is pretty certain that these are wolf attacks. I would find it difficult to imagine a pack of dogs targeting such a large animal as an adult cow. Sheep and goats are a different matter, well within the scope of a hungry pack of dogs. Large dogs (hounds) could bring down a stag, yes. Wolves are used to bringing down large ruminants. I simply don’t know what dogs are capable of when it comes to the size of the pack’s prey.
Yes, you did come over as not happy with the line of the article, perhaps because of your politics. Personally, I am a Conservative (being ex-forces from a military family going back three generations), but after arriving to live here just six years after Franco’s death in 1975, I soon came to release that Spanish conservatives have nothing to do with British Conservatives and that it is a tremendous error to equate them. On the other hand, I wouldn’t piss on a socialst government to put them out if they were on fire, having lived through the unions-dominated, socialist destruction of British industry in the 70s.
However, and your and my political stances aside, I think that the Ecologists’ call to keep politics outside the debate on whether wolves need culling, is probably the most sensible stance.
Another way of phrasing it might be that some regions that don’t have wolves recognised that they don’t have knowledge in the matter. They therefore decided to vote in line with the regions who do have wolves.
These regions set aside politics and supported the regions who have wolf problems, regardless of the political affiliation of those regions.
Or another way would be to phrase it that these non PP regions threw the wolf regions to the wolves. In short they said it’s not my problem. Where as the PP regions supported the PSOE and PP regions who have wolves.
I guess it depends on what way you want to slant the argument of the article.
Can we be certain (100%) that these are wolf attacks and not dog attacks? I’m not for stirring up sentiment on behalf of the wolf, but there are numerous cases of dog attacks on livestock in UK, where as far as I am aware we do not have a wolf population to worry about. Are these animals leaving evidence in the wounds, or is there something specific about the nature of the attack to single out wolves as the culprits, if not I would suspect dogs. Wolves work co-operatively in packs in order to obtain food (their primary objective for hunting), they don’t waste their energy worrying livestock and injuring prey for fun. Out of control dogs, on the other hand, frequently worry livestock and may injure an animal and even kill, but they will generally lose interest once the prey has been disabled or killed.
Culling for population control only, not for the love of the kill.
It pleasing the find that the articles on the Gazette get feed back and scrutiny. Unfortunately I confused Cantabria with Asturias where the latter, not the former, is in the hands of the PSOE. Therefore my sentence, “Not one regional government headed by the PSOE voted in favour,” should have ended in, “except for Asturias.”
You see, the point of my pointing out the party affiliation in the voting was to explain why the Ecologists en Acción called for, “politics to be left aside, urging attention only to solid, transparent scientific information.” The opposition party, PP, voted in block, in every one of their regional governments, regardless of whether they have wolf populations, to lift the ban, which does pretty much indicate party politics rather than a purely ecological decision. In the case of every other party in Spain, PSOE or regional nationalist parties, the decision was taken on whether they had wolf populations or not.
Lastly, I apologise for any inaccuracies but in my defence, I am pulling my hair out with the July-edition deadline looming this weekend.
”Not one regional government headed by the PSOE voted in favour.”
https://www.moncloa.com/2026/06/23/asturias-exige-informe-lobo-bruselas-3388778/
Am I misunderstanding this article, or is it stating Asturias were pushing for wolf hunting?
The northern regional governments where most of the wolf populations are: Cantabria (PP) Galicia (PP) Asturias (PSOE) Castilla-Leon (PP) There are also wolves moving into the autonomous regions of Madrid (PP) La Rioja (PP), Castilla-La Mancha, (PSOE, who abstained) and the Basque Lands (PNV Basque Nationalist & PSOE who abstained) and of course, down in the south in Andalucía (PP) there are wolves.
Every regional government in the hands of the PP voted in favour of lifting the ban, regardless of whether they have wolf populations, which the rest don’t. The PP hold 11 of the 17 regional governments of Spain, including the two autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. Of the remaining 11 regional governments that are not run by the PP, four abstained. Not one regional government headed by the PSOE voted in favour.
So, no, not all are PP but yes, the majority of those that voted in favour are under the PP, who have a strong hunters’ lobby and is a party that supports bull fighting, giving it public subsidies under a PP Central Government.
The other regional government that abstained was the Catalans, run by nationalists.
Therefore, the other regional governments that voted in favour of lifting the ban… don’t have wolf populations.
My personal view: all animal populations should undergo culling if their numbers become unmanageable. Should culling be introduced because lobbies and like-minded politicians get a hard on over the idea of being able to get a crack at wolves? No.
The reason that wolves became almost extinct was because they were hunted almost to oblivion.
The last wolf in Andalucia, I seem to remember, was killed in the 50s but since the return of democracy they have been reintroduced through bringing them in from parts of the country where there are wolves. Lynxes were also almost made extinct until protected.
A bastard hunter shot my dog when I lived in a cortijo above Otívar – they used it as target practice. In the village, the mere mention of a fox on your property brought cries of “Kill it” from local hunters.
However, Hunting is not only a sport, it is an important part of balancing animal populations and there are many, many hunters who are responsible.
Are all these regions pushing to lift the ban in the hands of the PP?
Are they the only regions who have problems with wolves?
Thank you for that, Melanie and nice to get some feedback from Galicia.
Last week a wolf attacked a sheep belonging to my neighbour. His horse tried to defend the sheep. The horse was bitten on its leg. It took the vet half an hour to stitch the sheep back together.