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The Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus), the species of gray wolf native to the Iberian Peninsula comprising Spain and Portugal, has been extinct in the historic region of Andalusia in the extreme south of Iberia since 2020, according to the regional government.
“In 2020, there was no indication of wolf presence in Andalusia,” a recently released report for the year 2020 by the Program of Actions for the Conservation of the Iberian Wolf in Andalusia under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development, Government of Andalucia, noted.
The authorities came to the conclusion after a series of “control” tours. “The “control” tours consisted of visits to public properties and forests that were already sampled previously…,” the report noted.
The tours were complemented by setting up camera traps in areas that have been considered priority natural parks and public forests.
“The sampling effort carried out since 2016 by the Program team has detected no evidence of wolf presence in Andalusia. There is also no evidence of the presence of any breeding pair since 2003, nor contrasted data of the presence of any individual since 2014,” the report noted.
Andalusia is an ‘autonomous territory’ of Spain and consists of eight provinces: Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga, and Seville.
During 2020, there was just one complaint about a possible attack on livestock from Carboneros in Jaén. But visual analysis of camera traps installed at the site ruled out the attack as having been carried out by wolves.
A possible sighting was also reported in Andújar, again in Jaén. “In the case of the sighting, transects not less than a 40 km per grid were made. Camera traps were installed. They yielded negative results,” the report said.
It added:
Given the probable (wolf) recolonisation of Andalusia, in the medium to long term, due to the expansion of wolf populations in the north and centre of the peninsula, the Program of Actions will continue with the sampling work for the possible detection of the presence of the species and will respond to attacks on livestock that may occur.
The maintenance of the specialised monitoring team of the Program, through tours, photo-trapping, collection of suspicious excrement and referral to the laboratory for genetic analysis, personal interviews and analysis of attacks on livestock, can allow the detection of possible isolated or wandering individuals from the north and respond to attacks that occur on livestock, discriminating whether they are caused by wolf or dog, the document continued.
The Iberian wolf is currently distributed over most of the autonomous territories of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla y León and some areas of La Rioja, Madrid and northern Castilla La Stain.
“More than 90 per cent of the population is located in Castilla y León, Galicia and Asturias; On the contrary, the southern population is in sharp decline,” the report said.
The Iberian wolf, like other types of gray wolf, lives in packs that are territorial and hierarchical and led by a dominant breeding pair.
In Andalusia, it was mainly found in Sierra Morena which had good cover, prey base in the form of wild ungulates and a scarce asphalted road network as well as lack of other infrastructure.