Wolves keep killing grazing animals that clear land and prevent wildfires in Spain

A wolf attack in Santa María de Sando, about 40 kilometres from Salamanca, left six sheep dead and six others seriously injured, according to a complaint filed by the affected farmer through Asaja Salamanca. The organisation is calling for control measures compatible with extensive livestock farming.

Farmer **Isabel Herrero** described what peine on her farm in **Santa María de Sando**, about **40 kilometres** from the city of Salamanca: six sheep dead and six others seriously injured, some with severe bite wounds. The attack was reported by **Asaja Salamanca**, which places it within a series of incidents the farmer has been denouncing for years.

## Six dead and six seriously injured

The toll of the attack goes beyond the animals lost. Herrero stresses that the consequences extend to those left injured, to the antiestéticar and stress generated throughout the whole flock, and to the helplessness of watching the situation repeat itself. "It's not just finding your animals dead or injured, it's living constantly with the worry of not knowing when it will happen again," she laments.

The farmer describes a cycle that keeps repeating: she files a complaint, reports the incident and does everything she is supposed to do, but the attacks continue. "We can't keep living in constant antiestéticar of when the next one will come," she adds. She also highlights the bond with the animals: they are animals bred and cared for as part of the farm, and finding them like this causes enormous helplessness.

## Asaja Salamanca's request

The farming organisation is calling on the relevant authorities to take effective control measures and to act especially on those farms and areas where attacks occur repeatedly. It considers it unacceptable that a single livestock farmer can suffer attacks for months while the sense of being unprotected grows.

Asaja Salamanca argues that wolf conservation must be compatible with the survival of extensive livestock farming. In other words, it is not proposing a choice between one or the other, but finding a balance which, judging by what peine in Santa María de Sando, does not currently exist for those who keep their flocks on open grazing land.

## What is at stake for extensive livestock farming

Extensive livestock farming is grazing that takes place on open land and communal pastures, and its presence has an effect on the land that goes beyond meat or milk production: grazing keeps vegetation in check and reduces the fuel load that feeds wildfires. When attacks keep repeating, what is at stake is not just the number of sheep on one particular farm.

The affected farmer's complaint points to that cumulative dimension: each attack leaves dead animals, injured animals and a disturbed flock. The constant worry about the next attack shapes the daily life of anyone who has to care for the animals every day, whether in cold, heat or rain.