Black vultures, lynx and wild horses are among the animals being reintroduced to eastern Spain with the launch of a rewilding project spanning 850,000 hectares (2.1m acres) in the Iberian highlands east of Madrid. Rewilding Europe’s 20-year landscape recovery scheme, which covers an area more than five times the size of Greater London, aims to […]
Tag: Spain
Spanish police guide bear back from city centre to mountains
Spanish police came to the aid of a brown bear whose apparent quest for acorns led him to pad the pre-dawn streets of a busy city in the north-western region of Castilla y León. The animal was spotted in the centre of Ponferrada in the early hours of Tuesday by a taxi-driver, who filmed its […]
Incredible moment mama bear fights 500lb rival to death before fatal plunge 100 feet down mountain as she defends cub
THIS is the incredible moment a mama bear fought her 500lb rival to death before a fatal 100ft plunge in a bid to protect her cub. The nail-biting footage shows the two bears fighting on the edge of a mountain cliff before plunging onto the rocks below them. The protective mum miraculously survived as she […]
Brown bears have been successfully reintroduced to the Pyrenees, with 70 individuals identified in 2021, the highest number in a century
A scheme to reintroduce brown bears to the Pyrenees is showing signs of success, with 70 individuals identified in 2021, the highest number for a century. The population has increased from 52 in 2018, according to figures produced by the cross-border group that monitors the bears in France and Spain, with half the creatures living […]
Almost 100 vultures found dead in suspected mass poisoning in Spain
Almost 100 vultures have been found dead or dying in a suspected mass poisoning in Spain. Authorities discovered 56 birds – 55 vultures and a black kite – lying dead, as well as 41 that were alive but so unwell that the prognosis for them was described as bleak. The birds had been eating the […]
POLL: Should there be a permanent ban on the shooting of at-risk turtle doves?
Nearly 1 million migrating turtle doves will be spared after Spanish authorities agreed a one-year ban on the shooting of the bird. The turtle dove is a globally threatened species and is Britain’s most endangered breeding bird, with populations having halved in just five years and possibly fewer than 2,000 pairs left. Population modelling has […]
Conservation actions see Iberian lynx claw back from brink of extinction
It’s midday in summer, the mercury climbing above 40° Celsius (104° Fahrenheit), and nature guide Nuno Roxo is leading us on a hike in Guadiana Valley National Park in Portugal. The high grass and herbs, battered by the strong sun, have not seen any rain for several months. We continue down a narrow trail, used […]
Spanish farmers deeply split as ban on hunting wolves is extended
“There have always been wolves. We humans have hunted and killed all the animals around us because we want everything for ourselves,” says Laura Serrano Isla, who tends her flock of 650 sheep near Burgos in north-west Spain. “We think we rule the world but if we kill all the rest of the animals, the […]