Environmentalists introduce resolution in Congress to protect Iberian wolves from hunters, ranchers

Iberian Wolves in natural habitat. Photo: Juan José González Vega / Wikimedia Commons
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• Nearly 800 native Iberian wolves are killed by hunters each year in Spain •

Environmentalists are keeping up the pressure for the protection of the Iberian wolf species with the introduction Tuesday of a resolution in the Environmental Commission of Spain’s Congress of Deputies calling on the Spanish government to declare the Iberian wolf a protected species and impose an immediate ban on the hunting of the wolves nationwide.

Introduced by Juan López de Uralde, a former Greenpeace España director and Podemos-Equo deputy from the Basque region, the resolution is expected to be approved by the Environmental Commission and will remain non-binding unless a new government is formed before the looming May 2nd deadline in Congress, in which case it could be debated and passed into law by the full Congress.

According to Uralde, a coalition of Spanish environmentalists and political parties are pushing for the protection of the native wolf species in the face of lobbying from ranchers in the Duero River area who want the government to lift all restrictions on hunting the animals. Environmentalists say each year hunters and ranchers kill between 700-800 Iberian wolves, which have only recently recovered in Spain after nearly having been wiped out by over-hunting some seven decades ago.

► Read More in Spanish at 20minutos and Europa Press …

► Read More in English at The Telegraph …

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