The Big, Bad Wolf
Wolves are a protected species. That said, we have to understand how they became so endangered as to become protected. Once upon a time, the greatest fear was that of encountering a wolf in the woods. Hence, fairy tales like Red Riding Hood. Wolves generally killed and ate small wild animals they found in the woods, but in times of hunger or scarcity, they weren't above trying to get into a fold and carting off a sheep or two. Or a young calf. Or a small child. Sheep and cattle farmers, anxious for their livelihood, hunted wolves. So did folk who lived near woods. Here, near the north coast, along the Costa da Morte, there are still pits that were dug to entice wolves to fall into, where they would be killed.
With enough hunting, over the twentieth century the wolf almost disappeared. Environmentalists became alarmed. Hunting stopped. Now, the wolves are on their way back. But the countryside of the 1920's has now become the countryside of the 2010's, and houses and farms sprawl everywhere. What little pockets of woods remain no longer have their full complement of quail, rabbits, and other small animals that were on the wolf's menu. What few there are have generally been released into the wild by hunting associations precisely to be hunted by rifle-toting humans. The growing wolf population needs to eat, so it eats where it can. Mostly, it scouts sheep grazing in a loosely protected field. It ignores the, usually, lone dog accompanying maybe twenty sheep, while it reconnoiters the entrances and exits, the weak and the strong. The wolf will make its move, generally by disabling the dog first, and then attacking the nearest weak sheep like lightning and disappearing into the woods with the meal.
Wolves are intelligent. They know that where there are sheep there will be dogs. Trained dogs can put up a fight, so the wolves try to disable them and kill them, first. Very late last Saturday night, way after midnight, a woman went to the barn, annexed to the house, and opened the door to let her Pomeranian out for a bathroom spell. Out of nowhere, a dark mass snarled in, grabbed the little dog in its jaws and disappeared into the black night. This happened near Muxía, in a little village inland, near a large mass of woods. The woman, shocked and grieving over her lost Pomeranian, knew by instinct that the wolf was on its way to snatch a Labrador pup resting with its mother in a nearby shed. Only that the Pomeranian showed up first and paid the price. It wasn't the first time. A German Shepherd had been attacked days earlier, and another dog killed.
Farmers don't know what to do any more. They make sure to keep their fold under lock and key in the night, and lately they've discovered that sheep and lambs disappear in the middle of the day. Their dogs wind up maimed or killed, or simply disappear. The wolves are hungry and nothing deters them, not even daylight. It has been estimated that there are between 500 and 600 wolves in Galicia, about 25% of all the wolves in Spain. Their number has been growing now that they are a protected species. The problem is their food supply has not. The regional government has funds to compensate farmers for their losses, but the compensations sometimes take years to arrive, and the loss of productivity is immediate.
As in so many centuries past, the farmer is always the one to lose, and the wolf keeps its dark legend intact. It remains the predator of the night, thief of livelihoods, a threat to the small and weak.
With enough hunting, over the twentieth century the wolf almost disappeared. Environmentalists became alarmed. Hunting stopped. Now, the wolves are on their way back. But the countryside of the 1920's has now become the countryside of the 2010's, and houses and farms sprawl everywhere. What little pockets of woods remain no longer have their full complement of quail, rabbits, and other small animals that were on the wolf's menu. What few there are have generally been released into the wild by hunting associations precisely to be hunted by rifle-toting humans. The growing wolf population needs to eat, so it eats where it can. Mostly, it scouts sheep grazing in a loosely protected field. It ignores the, usually, lone dog accompanying maybe twenty sheep, while it reconnoiters the entrances and exits, the weak and the strong. The wolf will make its move, generally by disabling the dog first, and then attacking the nearest weak sheep like lightning and disappearing into the woods with the meal.
Wolves are intelligent. They know that where there are sheep there will be dogs. Trained dogs can put up a fight, so the wolves try to disable them and kill them, first. Very late last Saturday night, way after midnight, a woman went to the barn, annexed to the house, and opened the door to let her Pomeranian out for a bathroom spell. Out of nowhere, a dark mass snarled in, grabbed the little dog in its jaws and disappeared into the black night. This happened near Muxía, in a little village inland, near a large mass of woods. The woman, shocked and grieving over her lost Pomeranian, knew by instinct that the wolf was on its way to snatch a Labrador pup resting with its mother in a nearby shed. Only that the Pomeranian showed up first and paid the price. It wasn't the first time. A German Shepherd had been attacked days earlier, and another dog killed.
Farmers don't know what to do any more. They make sure to keep their fold under lock and key in the night, and lately they've discovered that sheep and lambs disappear in the middle of the day. Their dogs wind up maimed or killed, or simply disappear. The wolves are hungry and nothing deters them, not even daylight. It has been estimated that there are between 500 and 600 wolves in Galicia, about 25% of all the wolves in Spain. Their number has been growing now that they are a protected species. The problem is their food supply has not. The regional government has funds to compensate farmers for their losses, but the compensations sometimes take years to arrive, and the loss of productivity is immediate.
As in so many centuries past, the farmer is always the one to lose, and the wolf keeps its dark legend intact. It remains the predator of the night, thief of livelihoods, a threat to the small and weak.
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