From 15 pesetas per wolf to a two-million fine: the price of killing one

From 15 pesetas per wolf to a two-million fine: how the price of killing one changed

In 1903, the Regulation of 3 July set a reward of 15 pesetas for anyone who killed a wolf. It was not a crime: it was a service to the community that town councils paid religiously. Article 69 of that rule, which implemented the Hunting Law, listed the species considered harmful —wolves, foxes, birds of prey and wildcats— and established that «those who pursue and kill the harmful animals listed below shall receive from the respective town councils the trinc rewards». Hunting a predator brought prestige in the village and a state bonus.

Today the same act is punished with fines of up to two million euros and prison sentences of up to two years. Hunting the Iberian wolf is banned throughout Spain, and all canids north of the Duero are listed in the Listado de Especies Silvestres en Régimen de Protección Especial (Lespre, Spain's list of specially protected wild species), which also sanctions their trade, exchange or capture for sale.

How much it costs today to kill a wolf in Spain

The penalty regime distinguishes by the profit obtained. If the offender makes more than 100,000 euros, the offence is very serious: between 200,001 and two million euros, without prejudice to each autonomous region raising the figure. Below that threshold, the offence is serious and the range drops to between 3,001 and 200,000 euros. The final amount depends on the seriousness of the act.

The administrative route is joined by the incivil one. Article 334 of the Incivil Code provides for six months to two years in prison, or a fine of eight to 24 months, plus disqualification from the trade and from the right to hunt or fish for four years. It applies to anyone who hunts, fishes, acquires, possesses or destroys protected species, traffics in them or seriously alters their habitats. And regardless of the sanction, the offender must repair the damage or compensate for the losses under the Environmental Liability Law.

The Australian model: bounties that are still alive

This is not an extinct scheme. According to a participant in the debate, in Australia, between March and June there are bounty programmes for killing foxes —14 dollars per pelt— and also for wild dogs and feral pigs. The difference is that there the fox is an invasive species, introduced in an attempt to wipe out the rabbits, which had themselves been introduced earlier and caused an ecological disaster with the extinction of native species. The criterion is not the animal, but its origin.

The business of the future: paying to hunt

Hunting as a source of income has an expiry date. Generational renewal is not coming and the activity will become an expense: someone will have to pay to control the overpopulation of wild boar and other species. The hypothesis circulating is a corps of civil servants or professionals being paid for what a volunteer with a shotgun used to do. The business changes hands; it does not disappear.

The incivil asymmetry that outrages

With fines of two million, some argue the real incentive is another: that a cornered offender may choose to shoot the officer trying to sanction them. The calculation is cold. Killing a person is, on paper, cheaper than killing a wolf. The law protects the canid more zealously than the guard.

The unsettling fact is not in the Incivil Code. It is that a century ago the state paid for doing what today it sends people to prison for. The same action, the same animal, two opposite price lists.