Shepherds View of Large Carnivore Recovery in the Pyrenees, Spain

The studied farms are small family businesses, and so, in more than half of the cases, their continuity is not guaranteed. Livestock management is typical of a mountain system, in which the animals graze throughout the year in cultivated fields, sown meadows, forests near the farms, and mountain pas...

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Published in:Animals
Main Authors: José Ballarín, Alicia García-Serrano, Juan Herrero, Ramón Reiné
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13132088
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spelling ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2076-2615/13/13/2088/ 2023-08-20T04:05:45+02:00 Shepherds View of Large Carnivore Recovery in the Pyrenees, Spain José Ballarín Alicia García-Serrano Juan Herrero Ramón Reiné agris 2023-06-23 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13132088 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Animal System and Management https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani13132088 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Animals; Volume 13; Issue 13; Pages: 2088 extensive sheep farming mountain pastures brown bear wolf Text 2023 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13132088 2023-08-01T10:35:33Z The studied farms are small family businesses, and so, in more than half of the cases, their continuity is not guaranteed. Livestock management is typical of a mountain system, in which the animals graze throughout the year in cultivated fields, sown meadows, forests near the farms, and mountain pastures during the three summer months. The herds always have the constant surveillance of a shepherd. Farmers consider the current infrastructure present in mountain grasslands insufficient to facilitate the management and care of their herd. Their activity conflicts with various species of wildlife, such as the wild boar, Sus scrofa, roe deer, Capreolus capreolus, or griffon vulture, Gyps fulvus, and large carnivores such as the brown bear, Ursusarctos, or the grey wolf Canis lupus, despite all of them taking preventive measures to defend their herds from predators. The most widely used prevention measures are the presence of mastiff dogs, Canis lupus familiaris, next to the herds and the use of electric fencing to lock up livestock at night. Farmers reject the presence of bears and wolves in their area, considering it a real threat to the continuity of their economic activity, which presents a high degree of vulnerability. Text Canis lupus MDPI Open Access Publishing Animals 13 13 2088
institution Open Polar
collection MDPI Open Access Publishing
op_collection_id ftmdpi
language English
topic extensive sheep farming
mountain pastures
brown bear
wolf
spellingShingle extensive sheep farming
mountain pastures
brown bear
wolf
José Ballarín
Alicia García-Serrano
Juan Herrero
Ramón Reiné
Shepherds View of Large Carnivore Recovery in the Pyrenees, Spain
topic_facet extensive sheep farming
mountain pastures
brown bear
wolf
description The studied farms are small family businesses, and so, in more than half of the cases, their continuity is not guaranteed. Livestock management is typical of a mountain system, in which the animals graze throughout the year in cultivated fields, sown meadows, forests near the farms, and mountain pastures during the three summer months. The herds always have the constant surveillance of a shepherd. Farmers consider the current infrastructure present in mountain grasslands insufficient to facilitate the management and care of their herd. Their activity conflicts with various species of wildlife, such as the wild boar, Sus scrofa, roe deer, Capreolus capreolus, or griffon vulture, Gyps fulvus, and large carnivores such as the brown bear, Ursusarctos, or the grey wolf Canis lupus, despite all of them taking preventive measures to defend their herds from predators. The most widely used prevention measures are the presence of mastiff dogs, Canis lupus familiaris, next to the herds and the use of electric fencing to lock up livestock at night. Farmers reject the presence of bears and wolves in their area, considering it a real threat to the continuity of their economic activity, which presents a high degree of vulnerability.
format Text
author José Ballarín
Alicia García-Serrano
Juan Herrero
Ramón Reiné
author_facet José Ballarín
Alicia García-Serrano
Juan Herrero
Ramón Reiné
author_sort José Ballarín
title Shepherds View of Large Carnivore Recovery in the Pyrenees, Spain
title_short Shepherds View of Large Carnivore Recovery in the Pyrenees, Spain
title_full Shepherds View of Large Carnivore Recovery in the Pyrenees, Spain
title_fullStr Shepherds View of Large Carnivore Recovery in the Pyrenees, Spain
title_full_unstemmed Shepherds View of Large Carnivore Recovery in the Pyrenees, Spain
title_sort shepherds view of large carnivore recovery in the pyrenees, spain
publisher Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
publishDate 2023
url https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13132088
op_coverage agris
genre Canis lupus
genre_facet Canis lupus
op_source Animals; Volume 13; Issue 13; Pages: 2088
op_relation Animal System and Management
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani13132088
op_rights https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
op_doi https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13132088
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