Pack of wolves colonize area in Sierra Norte, mountain range north of Madrid, almost 70 years after species was wiped out across Spain
Wolves were hunted to extinction in the
Madrid region by the 1940s, a trend that almost wiped out Spain's
indigenous wolf species. Photo: ALAMY
Wolves have been detected in the mountains 50 miles from Madrid, almost 70
years after they were hunted to near extinction across Spain.
Regional authorities announced this week that a pack of wolves had colonised
an area of the newly designated Guadarrama National Park in the Sierra
Norte, a mountain range just north of the capital.
Three adults and three cubs comprise the pack of Canis Lupus roaming the
Lozoya area, environmentalists confirmed after studying the animals using
camera traps, and through hair and fecal samples.
"We should accommodate them, because their presence is a clear indicator
that the wolf has found everything it needs to settle in the Madrid region,
which demonstrates an enviable biodiversity," Borja Sarasola, the
Madrid regional environment secretary.
The adult wolves are understood to have established their new territory after
spreading south over the mountains from Segovia in Castilla y Leon and the
three cubs were born last Spring.
Wolves were hunted to extinction in the Madrid region by the 1940s, a trend
that almost wiped out Spain's indigenous wolf species leaving only a few
hundred in isolated pockets across the Iberian Peninsula.
But the wolf population has steadily increasing over the last four decades to an estimated 2,000 individuals, after being made a protected species, a status that is not always popular with farmers.
The Madrid region have set aside 30,000 euros (£25,000) annually to compensate those whose livestock are taken in wolf attacks. So far this year there have been only 14 attacks in the area resulting in the death of 28 sheep and one cow.
"They are what we call good wolves; they will not bother anyone and will pass largely unseen," explained biologist Juan Carlos Blanco, a wolf expert at the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
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But the wolf population has steadily increasing over the last four decades to an estimated 2,000 individuals, after being made a protected species, a status that is not always popular with farmers.
The Madrid region have set aside 30,000 euros (£25,000) annually to compensate those whose livestock are taken in wolf attacks. So far this year there have been only 14 attacks in the area resulting in the death of 28 sheep and one cow.
"They are what we call good wolves; they will not bother anyone and will pass largely unseen," explained biologist Juan Carlos Blanco, a wolf expert at the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
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