Invasive Sheep Devastate Olive Groves in Eastern Spain

Over the past 50 years, invasive species like the Barbary sheep have rapidly increased in both population and range, leading to more frequent interactions with agriculture.

Barbary sheep populations have multipilied in southern Spain over the past 50 years.
By Simon Roots
Sep. 16, 2024 12:53 UTC
363
Barbary sheep populations have multipilied in southern Spain over the past 50 years.

L’ALCOIÀ, Spain – The Valencian Community’s Unió Llauradora i Ramadera (Farming and Livestock Union) has again drawn atten­tion to the agri­cul­tural dam­age caused by wildlife in the Alicante Mountains, par­tic­u­larly empha­siz­ing the effects of inva­sive species such as the Barbary sheep.

In a study pub­lished in August, the union esti­mated that dam­age from ungu­lates causes direct losses for farm­ers in the region of €10 mil­lion annu­ally, approx­i­mately €4.7 mil­lion or 47 per­cent, of which was incurred by olive groves.

The regions of Marina Alta, Marina Baixa, El Comtat, L’Alcoià, L’Alacantí and Alto y Medio Vinalopó were found to be most severely affected.

With an inte­grated and sus­tain­able approach, it is pos­si­ble to pro­tect the inter­ests of farm­ers while con­serv­ing the nat­ural wealth that defines this beau­ti­ful region.- Miguel Ángel García, Alicante-based olive farmer

One of the ani­mals high­lighted in the study is the Barbary sheep, a wild bovid endemic to regions of the Sahara. Although increas­ingly rare in its native range, it has pro­lif­er­ated in many areas to which it has been intro­duced.

In Spain, this first occurred in the Sierra Espuña Regional Park, where the sheep was intro­duced as a game species in 1970. Since then, it has spread to at least eight dif­fer­ent provinces. The pop­u­la­tion in Alicante alone is now esti­mated to com­prise approx­i­mately 2,500 indi­vid­u­als.

Invasive species orig­i­nat­ing in North Africa are believed to be pro­lif­er­at­ing more rapidly than in pre­vi­ous decades because of the increas­ing rate of deser­ti­fi­ca­tion that is trans­form­ing the Spanish land­scape into one more akin to their native habi­tat. This is par­tic­u­larly true of the Alicante Mountains.

See Also:How the Iberian Ant Can Help Control Pests in Olive Groves

Because of its adap­ta­tions to moun­tain­ous, arid ter­rain and its abil­ity to feed on a vast array of woody plant species, the Barbary sheep can cause con­sid­er­able dam­age to tra­di­tional moun­tain­side olive groves. In addi­tion, it can per­form a stand­ing jump of more than two meters, mak­ing stan­dard fenc­ing inef­fec­tive.

The union used the case of Miguel Ángel García as an exam­ple of the prob­lems fac­ing farm­ers because of these species. An olive farmer and oil pro­ducer in L’Alcoià, his plot clos­est to the moun­tains has suf­fered exten­sive and increas­ing dam­age over recent years, with the 2023 har­vest total­ing only 300 kilo­grams: 1,000 kilo­grams less than the pre­vi­ous year.

business-europe-invasive-sheep-devastate-olive-groves-in-eastern-spain-olive-oil-times

Barbary sheep are damaging the olive trees in the Alicante Mountains. (Photo: Simon Roots)

Speaking to the Olive Oil Times, L’Alcoià locals expressed a range of opin­ions on the pres­ence of the exotic species, none of them pos­i­tive. While all were con­cerned about the ani­mals’ effects on the local econ­omy and tra­di­tions, many believed their envi­ron­men­tal impact was of even greater con­cern.

The area is renowned for its nat­ural beauty, and its moun­tains and ravines pro­vide an impor­tant refuge for many species found only on the Iberian penin­sula. In addi­tion to increas­ing com­pe­ti­tion for food and habi­tat, inva­sive exotic species are vec­tors of var­i­ous dis­eases that can spread to native wildlife and live­stock.

Another rec­og­nized dan­ger the ani­mals pose is their abil­ity to jump road­side bar­ri­ers, lead­ing to increased traf­fic acci­dents in the regions where their num­bers have soared.

Such a com­pre­hen­sive range of prob­lems means that calls to con­trol the pop­u­la­tions of these species have broad sup­port. However, the sit­u­a­tion is com­pli­cated by fre­quently chang­ing and even con­tra­dic­tory leg­is­la­tion, as suc­ces­sive gov­ern­ments bring oppos­ing ide­olo­gies and pri­or­i­ties to bear.

The Barbary sheep, for exam­ple, was included in the Spanish cat­a­log of inva­sive alien species in 2013, mean­ing that the national gov­ern­men­t’s offi­cial pol­icy was to erad­i­cate the species entirely from the coun­try.

Hunting groups, how­ever, obtained an excep­tion for the region of Murcia, the point of ori­gin for the species in Spain. In 2016, how­ever, a Supreme Court judg­ment removed this and other excep­tions and reit­er­ated that all inva­sive alien species must be erad­i­cated.

However, in 2018, the 2007 Natural Heritage and Biodiversity leg­is­la­tion was reformed, effec­tively rever­se­ing the 2016 judg­ment.

business-europe-invasive-sheep-devastate-olive-groves-in-eastern-spain-olive-oil-times

Despite efforts to hunt the invasive sheep, prohibitions on such activities in protected areas has hindered the effort. (Photo: Simon Roots)

With this reform, alien species that were already inva­sive before 2007 are no longer sub­ject to erad­i­ca­tion. Instead, they are sub­ject to con­trol through hunt­ing and fish­ing. Even fur­ther com­pli­cat­ing the sit­u­a­tion is that hunt­ing is ille­gal in pro­tected envi­ron­ment areas, and hunt­ing leg­is­la­tion varies between autonomous com­mu­ni­ties.

However, many res­i­dents believe an effec­tive bal­ance can be found within the cur­rent frame­work.

Advertisement
Advertisement

The bal­ance between the con­ser­va­tion of game fauna and the pro­tec­tion of agri­cul­ture is a com­plex but man­age­able chal­lenge,” García said. The Alicante Mountains, with their rich bio­di­ver­sity and impor­tant agri­cul­tural sec­tor, can serve as a model for other regions fac­ing sim­i­lar prob­lems.”

With an inte­grated and sus­tain­able approach, it is pos­si­ble to pro­tect the inter­ests of farm­ers while con­serv­ing the nat­ural wealth that defines this beau­ti­ful region,” he added. It is there­fore cru­cial to imple­ment sus­tain­able man­age­ment strate­gies that bal­ance the con­ser­va­tion of game fauna with the pro­tec­tion of agri­cul­ture.”

Another con­tentious issue is com­pen­sa­tion. While wildlife man­age­ment is the Department of the Environment’s respon­si­bil­ity, the Department of Agriculture is respon­si­ble for com­pen­sat­ing farm­ers for losses incurred by wildlife dam­age and pro­vid­ing aid for pre­ven­ta­tive mea­sures.

In June of this year, how­ever, the Department of Agriculture announced that it would pro­vide funds only for pre­ven­ta­tive mea­sures in the Valencian Community and not for com­pen­sa­tion as pre­vi­ously announced. Furthermore, the funds appro­pri­ated for these mea­sures amounted to €250,000, a fig­ure in stark con­trast to the €6.3 mil­lion in neigh­bor­ing Catalonia’s bud­get.

According to the union’s data, total losses from wildlife dam­age in rural Valencia in 2023 amounted to over €45 mil­lion.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has pre­vi­ously stated that cur­rent mea­sures are not suf­fi­cient to curb the expan­sion of var­i­ous species or the fre­quency and mag­ni­tude of their impacts on human activ­i­ties and the nat­ural envi­ron­ment. It has spo­ken specif­i­cally of wild boar, roe deer, bar­bary sheep, ibex, mou­flon and rab­bit, which are increas­ing in pop­u­la­tion and range.



Share this article

Advertisement
Advertisement

Related Articles