Shepherds View of Large Carnivore Recovery in the Pyrenees, Spain

Abstract

The studied farms are small family businesses, and so, in more than half of the cases, their continuity is not guaranteed. Livestock management is typical of a mountain system, in which the animals graze throughout the year in cultivated fields, sown meadows, forests near the farms, and mountain pastures during the three summer months. The herds always have the constant surveillance of a shepherd. Farmers consider the current infrastructure present in mountain grasslands insufficient to facilitate the management and care of their herd. Their activity conflicts with various species of wildlife, such as the wild boar, Sus scrofa, roe deer, Capreolus capreolus, or griffon vulture, Gyps fulvus, and large carnivores such as the brown bear, Ursus arctos, or the grey wolf Canis lupus, despite all of them taking preventive measures to defend their herds from predators. The most widely used prevention measures are the presence of mastiff dogs, Canis lupus familiaris, next to the herds and the use of electric fencing to lock up livestock at night. Farmers reject the presence of bears and wolves in their area, considering it a real threat to the continuity of their economic activity, which presents a high degree of vulnerability.

Keywords: brown bear; extensive sheep farming; mountain pastures; wolf.

Figure 1

The farms (yellow stars) and pastures (green) in the study area.

Figure 2

The compatibility of bears and wolves with livestock activity.

Figure 3

Shepherds’ attitude towards bears and wolves.

Figure 4

A consideration of the presence of bears and wolves as the main problem for extensive livestock farming.

Figure 5

The importance of having bears and wolves in Spain.

Figure 6

The Importance of having bears and wolves in the Pyrenees.

Figure 7

The importance of having bears in Spain and in the shepherds’ area.

Figure 8

The importance of having wolves in Spain and in the shepherd’s area.