Images of about 450 deer and wild boar that were slaughtered during a day’s commerical hunting have been described as “an orgy of blood and death” by Spanish environmentalists.
Seventy hunters took part in the event on a private estate in Villaviciosa de Córdoba, in the Sierra Morena hills of Andalucia, where the animals were penned in by fences, making escape from the guns impossible. The organisers charged participants €1,000 for a day’s shooting. Although commercial hunting parties are legal, ecological and animal welfare groups say it is unethical to use fencing.
Manuel Gallardo, president of the Royal Spanish Hunting Federation, conceded that the images were shocking but told El Mundo that commercial hunting on such a scale was “necessary due to the overabundance of species”.
But Joaquín Reina, of Ecologists in Action, called the shooting an “orgy of blood and death”. He said: “This is the daily life of most of the fenced estates in Sierra Morena, but also throughout Andalusia, with some 500,000 hectares fenced, Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha and the Levante region.”
Reina said it would be impossible to kill so many animals in a day on an open estate. He said: “The only defence is escape and this is absolutely diminished by a wire barrier.” In his view, hunting under these conditions is “more typical of a livestock activity than a renewable natural resource”.
Pro-hunting bodies in Spain claim that hunting generates about €6.5 billion a year as well as creating jobs.
1 comment
Images of about 450 deer and wild boar that were slaughtered during a day’s commerical hunting have been described as “an orgy of blood and death” by Spanish environmentalists.
Seventy hunters took part in the event on a private estate in Villaviciosa de Córdoba, in the Sierra Morena hills of Andalucia, where the animals were penned in by fences, making escape from the guns impossible. The organisers charged participants €1,000 for a day’s shooting. Although commercial hunting parties are legal, ecological and animal welfare groups say it is unethical to use fencing.
Manuel Gallardo, president of the Royal Spanish Hunting Federation, conceded that the images were shocking but told El Mundo that commercial hunting on such a scale was “necessary due to the overabundance of species”.
But Joaquín Reina, of Ecologists in Action, called the shooting an “orgy of blood and death”. He said: “This is the daily life of most of the fenced estates in Sierra Morena, but also throughout Andalusia, with some 500,000 hectares fenced, Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha and the Levante region.”
Reina said it would be impossible to kill so many animals in a day on an open estate. He said: “The only defence is escape and this is absolutely diminished by a wire barrier.” In his view, hunting under these conditions is “more typical of a livestock activity than a renewable natural resource”.
Pro-hunting bodies in Spain claim that hunting generates about €6.5 billion a year as well as creating jobs.