Por Redaccion 
The new management plan, expected to be approved this year, updates the compensation scale, and Arredondo and Ruesga are added to the ‘wolf’ zone.
The Government of Cantabria has removed 16 wolves in the last two and a half months, since they were removed from the LESPRE (List of Wild Species under Special Protection Regime), and five more have died from other causes, bringing the total to 21, half of the 41 that can be eliminated based on the current management plan.
The 16 extractions – nine females and seven males – have been carried out in the areas of Campoo (6), Nansa (4), Besaya (3), Saja (2), and Asón (1). In addition to this population control, a female and four males have died from being hit by a vehicle (4) and from illness (1), which also count towards the plan.
In addition, the Department of Rural Development has ‘live’ five resolutions that expire on June 30 and can be implemented until that date, without prejudice to publishing more to complete the quota of 41 (20% of the current population) based on attacks on livestock.
«If necessary, based on the existing damage, we would publish even more resolutions,» warned the head of the department, María Jesús Susinos, this Friday in statements to the press before presiding over the Wolf Board, where the new management plan has been presented, and which she hopes will be approved before the end of the year.
NEW MANAGEMENT PLAN UPDATES
Among the main novelties of the document, which has been approved by «consensus» and remains «open» – contributions and allegations can be made within a month – the change in zoning from three to two stands out.
In the first zone, which maintains the possibility of wolf presence and coexistence with extensive livestock farming, will be formed by 38 municipalities, two more than now, with the incorporation of Arredondo and Ruesga. Thus, both will be able to receive payment for environmental services.
Those still in this zone include Anievas, Arenas de Iguña, Bárcena de Pie de Concha, Cabezón de Liébana, Cabuérniga, Camaleño, Campoo de Enmedio, Campoo de Yuso, Cieza, Cillorigo de Liébana, Hermandad de Campoo de Suso, Lamasón, Luena, Molledo, Peñarrubia, Pesaguero, Pesquera, Polaciones, Potes, Reinosa, Rionansa, Las Rozas de Valdearroyo, Ruente, San Miguel de Aguayo, San Pedro del Romeral, San Roque de Riomiera, Santiurde de Reinosa, Soba, Los Tojos, Tresviso, Tudanca, Valdeolea, Valdeprado del Río, Valderredible, Vega de Liébana, Vega de Pas, and the Campoo-Cabuérniga Consortium.
The second zone will be formed by the remaining municipalities in the community, 64, where there should not be a habitual presence of the canid, although sporadic and solitary specimens are allowed, but not packs. «And not what is happening now, with wolves killing on the coast, in broad daylight and in heavily urbanized areas,» added the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food.
Accompanied by the Director General of Forests and Biodiversity, Ángel Serdio, the minister also indicated that the text – which initially maintains the quota to be extracted from 20% of the wolf population in the region – includes a protocol for farmers to report damages suffered in a «more agile and simple» way, as well as a new scale, as the current one is «very outdated» and each lost animal is being paid for «well below market price.»
In addition, the next management plan – which will succeed the current one from 2019 – incorporates a new line of specific aid for predator damage prevention measures, such as mastiffs, fences, or enclosures, said Susinos, who also emphasized the proposal to «officialize» the Wolf Board, an organ that is currently consultative.
«The proposals we bring today are negotiated in working groups agreed upon in this Wolf Board and aim to strengthen the coexistence model with the species, based on necessary and essential controls, which also seeks to facilitate and expedite aid management for farmers,» explained Susinos.
FALSE ACCUSATIONS
Ecologists in Action and the Association for the Defense of Natural Resources of Cantabria (ARCA) did not attend today’s meeting, considering that «the minimum conditions of trust and willingness to dialogue» are not met by the Government, accusing it of only being interested in «killing wolves» based on data that are not «real,» so they warn that they «have no other choice» but to go to court «to ensure legality is respected.»
The minister has labeled these accusations as «false» and defended the dialogue and transparency of the administration, despite which – she regretted – both organizations «have decided to leave the Board» voluntarily, instead of remaining in working meetings and making contributions.
«In Cantabria, we do not want to exterminate the wolf. We want to coexist properly with this species and for our farmers to continue their activities,» defended the minister, who warned, however, that the number of individuals that «roam freely» in the region makes their coexistence with extensive livestock farming «unsustainable.»
At this point, she indicated that in 2024, there were 2,681 certified attacks, resulting in a total of 3,233 animals dead and 207 injured, affecting a thousand farmers and generating compensation exceeding 1.7 million euros.
LAW AND REASON
In addition, after referring to the various legal actions taken by ecological and conservation groups, the Minister of Agriculture emphasized that to date, the courts have sided with the Government.
«We are acting within the law, and we have been vindicated,» she stated, while also recalling that the Cantabria Prosecutor’s Office has closed the investigation procedures opened against her and Serdio for not finding any offense in the resolutions or the extractions of specimens.
Similarly, she rejected the accusations of the Platform for the Defense of the Cantabrian Mountain Range (PDCC) and the Fund for the Protection of the Iberian Wolf regarding a dozen resolutions for extractions, considering the methods employed as «indecent and illegal» according to the Hunting Law.
«Either they are not aware or they are doing this with very bad intentions to try to deceive the public, because in Cantabria, we are not hunting, we are implementing population control,» she concluded.
Also present at the meeting were the Director General of Agriculture, Alfredo Álvarez, as well as representatives from professional agricultural organizations, agricultural cooperatives, the Frisona Association of Cantabria (AFCA), the Cantabrian Federation of Meat Breeds, the Horse Association of Cantabria, and various associations of smaller animals such as sheep and goats, as well as the Federation of Municipalities of Cantabria and conservation entities such as the Nature and Man Foundation, representing the Brown Bear Foundation, and the Foundation for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture.