Hunting martens and martens to protect capercaillie angers ecologists in Aragon.
The plan launched by the Government of Aragon to hunt martens and martens in order to protect the capercaillie has angered the environmental groups in the community. For this reason, the environmental organizations have asked the Department of Environment for scientific studies that validate the positive effect of the elimination of predators on the survival of the protected bird. In a joint note issued by Ecologistas en Acción Aragón, Amigos de la Tierra Aragón and Ansar, indicate that according to the information made by the Department of Environment of the Government of Aragon itself, during this year 2024, measures have been carried out to control predators of the capercaillie, acting on species included in the Aragonese list of species with special protection regime as the marten and marten, as well as other non-protected species such as foxes, cats and bighorn dogs. “These actions are carried out by means of a contract, we do not know to whom it has been awarded, nor how long it will last, what public budget is available, nor on what surface area it is intended to act or how the areas of marten and marten translocation and their subsequent monitoring have been selected, since these aspects have not been explained by the department”, they regret. They also detail that these actions carried out by the Aragonese administration “are not innovative” and have already obtained results of similar works carried out in Castilla y León within the framework of Life Urogallo and published by MITECO, where “the more than doubtful need for this initiative” was evidenced, without finding scientific studies that validated the positive effect of the elimination of predators on the survival of the capercaillie. For his part, the deputy of IU, Álvaro Sanz, had already registered a question in the Aragonese Parliament at the end of September, demanding to know the supervision and control of these works. The Autonomous Executive responded that the control of the execution is carried out by the Nature Protection Agents and also by the civil servants who will analyze the result of the reports that must be presented on the works that are carried out.
The capercaillie population in Aragon has been reduced by 74% since 1990.
The organizations affirm that the ideas of eliminating “vermin” should have been left behind, especially when countless studies on predator-prey relationships define very fragile and complex relationships. “The Department of the Environment and its technicians should treat the problem of the capercaillie with humility and not continue using recipes that have been shown to be totally ineffective, economically costly and ethically very questionable”, they say. They also charge against the Government of Aragon for favoring human interference as is happening with the track that is opening on the north face of Maristás in the term of Tella-Sin in a critical area of capercaillie. “The tracks increase the human frequentation and with it the discomfort and presence of opportunistic predators such as foxes and corvids after the trail and waste of visitors,” they say.
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