Spanish views from a small town

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 cal f . 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 far...

Some years ago whenever you visited some houses in the surrounding villages, as soon as you walked up to the gate you would be greeted by the intense, deep-toned, frenzied barking of a dog large enough to eat you. Alarmed, you would look around before entering and you would be relieved to see the dog was chained up. Inside the yard, you would see that the dog would be on a long chain, have a couple of old pots nearby with food and water and a place where it could sleep sheltered from the weather. And it would transcend, as the owner talked about what a great watch-dog it was, that the dog lived all its life in that corner of the yard, fed only left-overs or bones. And that was considered normal among villagers that had practicality on their minds. Something similar occurred with cats. They have long been considered working animals and even easier to take care of than dogs. Because cats were free-roaming, living in barns and fields, living off the mice and rats they would hunt. But th...