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The “Alcateia Program” is primarily focused on areas where wolves are present in Portugal, particularly in the northern region of the continent, but it also extends further south into the interior, reaching the district of Portalegre.
The program has four strategic objectives: providing more favorable ecological conditions for wolf conservation, improving coexistence with human activities, strengthening monitoring and knowledge, and raising awareness for conservation.
The program was unveiled today at the Ministry of Environment by the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) and aims to recover and protect habitats in areas where wolves exist and have disappeared in recent years.
It also promotes wild prey such as roe deer and seeks to reduce mortality from unnatural causes.
Additionally, the program targets the conservation and restoration of ecological corridors, enhancing the connection between wolf areas in Portugal and Spain and aims to reduce conflicts associated with wolf attacks on animals such as sheep by improving and expediting the compensation system and promoting better livestock protection.
The government also seeks to enhance awareness, surveillance, and enforcement to “promote a greater understanding of the importance of wolf conservation, as well as prevent illegal activities” such as setting traps and baiting with poison.
The program also aims to promote the cultural and economic value of wolves, ensuring that the species’ presence reflects community benefits, and to improve cooperation with Spain to implement measures that enhance connectivity between wolf presence areas.
During the presentation, ICNF recalled that the Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus Cabrera, 1907) has been strictly protected in Portugal since 1988 and highlighted the 2017 wolf protection legislation, PACLobo, adding that data from the latest census (2019-2021) showed a “negative trend” compared to the previous survey in 2002/2003.
“The wolf presence area has decreased by about 20% in the last 20 years, dropping from approximately 20,000 to about 16,000 square kilometers. The number of detected packs also slightly decreased during this period, falling from 63 to 58, with varying trends in the four existing population nuclei,” noted ICNF.
The decline is linked to habitat degradation and fragmentation due to landscape changes, but also to other factors, particularly mortality from human persecution, which in many areas has resulted in the disappearance of both species and packs.
“According to data from the Wolf Mortality Monitoring System/ICNF, roadkill has been the main recorded cause of death, followed by snaring and shooting, with poisoning also among the detected causes of death,” the document presented today stated.
Therefore, the government advocates ensuring timely payment and updating compensation amounts for wolf-related damages.
Moreover, it plans to establish and publicize best practices for the Agricultural, Forestry, Hunting, Tourism/Sport sectors to ensure the protection of wolves’ sensitive areas and will conduct surveillance actions in these sensitive areas, as well as surveillance and enforcement (supported by the GNR) to detect “poaching,” deliberate and illegal actions to kill wolves.
It will also ensure a financial support line for maintaining protection dogs, the installation of fences for livestock protection against wolf attacks, and provide technical support to breeders for protection measures.
Last month, the European Union Council approved the reduction of wolves’ protection status, but Portugal, along with Belgium, Poland, and the Czech Republic, announced that they would maintain the species classified as strictly protected.
In the process initiated by the European Commission and approved in May by the European Parliament, Environment Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho voted in favor of the reduced protection status.
This European decision was heavily criticized by environmental organizations, which recalled that it all began in September 2023 when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen advocated for the reduction of the species’ protection following the alleged wolf attack on her pony, Dolly.
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