- The farmers have denounced the last attacks by the wolves in the concentration called by the Association of Farmers of Álava, UAGA, in the Artzain Eguna de Amurrio. The wolves carried the eight sheep killed in Kuartango to Amurrio last week to show that the measures proposed to protect the herds from the wolves are not effective.
"Do you know that there is less pit, sasiardi, goat or bull than a wolf?" ", asks UAGA member Julen Martínez de Santos, as he says Alea.eus. - Is it right to protect the wolf to the ends without taking into account sheep, goats, calves, foals? If the wolf needs special protection, why not our livestock? ".
In a press release, the association has denounced that the Basque Government's Management Plan "promotes the expansion of the wolf to the whole territory and relegates mountain livestock". Regarding the "measures to avoid harm", UAGA explained that they want to create groups of professionals and volunteers, but that being the professional sector the primary sector, "needs serious structural measures", "not leave it in the hands of volunteers". It has also denounced that mastines are presented as "a magic solution" because reality shows that mastines, rather than repairing them, can exacerbate problems, taking into account the number of people passing through the mountains. "It's hard to live with mountaineers, cyclists, runners, etc., more and more."
"If the objective of the plan is to achieve a good state of conservation of the wolf in the CAPV, the wolf should be quantified and compared with the actual census of these animals taking into account their conservation status in the rest of the peninsula," adds UAGA. "Because in the Basque Country the presence of the wolf has been limited to a very specific area, it is now expected to spread to the whole territory, which poses a serious threat to livestock farming. Livestock farmers believe that it is necessary to promote the extraction of wolf specimens that cause problems in order to reduce the damage to livestock." It also considers that the Basque Government should deepen negotiations with the Spanish Government so that the wolf can leave the list of wild species under special protection LESPRE and return to the legal situation prior to 2021.
The farmers gathered in Amurrio have declared that coexistence between the wolf and extensive livestock farming is impossible and have called for the wolf to "take" from the places under attack. "There's a lot of talk about Felix Rodríguez de la Fuente, but few of them remember phrases like: 'The wolf will have to live where it can and where it is needed'.