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MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's parliament voted to remove wolves' protected status on Thursday, four years after their inclusion, opening the way for the predators to be hunted again in the country's rural north.
Farmers hailed the measure, while conservationists deplored it as "tragic" both for wolves and the country's biodiversity.
Parliament's action reverses a measure introduced by the Socialist government in 2021 that extended protection for the wolf north of the Douro river. Controlled wolf hunting had been allowed until then in northern Spain.
Efforts to protect the wolf in Europe are faltering after the European Commission last week proposed to downgrade the animal's protective status because of their growing number and the threat they pose to livestock.
A change of law in Europe could lead to the authorization of wolf hunting also south of the Douro, which until now is strictly prohibited.
Thursday's move by Spanish lawmakers was approved in an amendment to a law about food waste proposed by the conservative People's Party (PP). Controlled wolf hunting can restart north of the Douro when the law is published in a few days' time.
The Association for the Protection and Study of the Iberian Wolf on Thursday accused right-wing parties that voted for the amendment of "legal subterfuge" by burying it within changes to a law that had nothing to do with the environment.
"It is a tragic day not only for the wolf, but also for the rest of Spain's biodiversity," the association said in an emailed statement.
The agricultural association COAG celebrated the legislative change after years of organizing protests against the measure on behalf of farmers, who said their livelihoods were at risk.
COAG has said that wolves were responsible for the killing of 15,000 farm animals in Spain each year.
Environment Minister Sara Aagesen said before the vote took place that biodiversity policies should be based on science, and said that the government would study what tools it had to protect the wolf.
(Reporting by Charlie Devereux and Emma Pinedo, editing by Inti Landauro, William Maclean)
