Ecologists in Action and the Iberian Wolf Conservation Fund have registered this Friday before the National High Court an appeal against the Agreement of the Sectoral Conference on Environment of last June 22, by which the conservation status of the Iberian wolf (Canis lupus) in the Atlantic and Mediterranean biogeographical regions was considered "favorable".
The decision was approved at the initiative of Galicia, Castilla y León, Asturias, and Cantabria, despite the opposing vote of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.
"The ministry's own technical report acknowledges that the profile imposed by these four autonomous communities lacks scientific justification. We are not facing a legitimate technical disagreement, but rather the imposition of a political majority over scientific evidence," explained Ecologists in Action.
Along these lines, the organization's spokesperson, Theo Oberhuber, stressed that the eventual loss of protection for a species "cannot be decided by regional votes, but with data."
According to their assessment, the stance of the autonomous communities responds to the fact that "the purpose of killing wolves with legal coverage underlies." He recalled that between 2025 and early 2026 Cantabria "killed more wolves than its own plan indicated" and that Asturias culled dozens of specimens, including pregnant females and cubs. "Today, Asturias is publishing its so-called management plan, a strategy of annihilation that they intend to shield with decree coverage," stated Ernesto Díaz, spokesperson for the Iberian Wolf Conservation Fund.
"Key" species and risk to its viability
The organizations recall that the Iberian wolf is a "key" species for the balance of peninsular ecosystems, by keeping wild ungulate populations in check and helping to curb diseases such as bovine tuberculosis.
Despite this ecological function, the current population —estimated at 333 packs— is still below the 500 breeding units that the international scientific community sets as the minimum threshold to ensure its long-term genetic viability. Furthermore, a large part of its historical distribution remains unrecovered, and the population in Sierra Morena, the southernmost in Western Europe, disappeared just ten years ago. Without this territorial expansion, they have warned, any declaration of a good conservation status "is, to say the least, imprudent," as indicated by Ecologistas en Acción in a statement sent to Europa Press.
"The Supreme Court itself and the Court of Justice of the European Union have made it clear that the extraction of a species cannot be authorized while its conservation status is unfavorable. If this six-year report is sent to Brussels, contrary to the best scientific evidence, that single legal obstacle to wolf hunting disappears overnight," stated Jaime Doreste Hernández and Sara González Merinero, lawyers for the recurring organizations.
Judicial battle and legal tools
Faced with "disinformation strategies that call killing wolves 'population control'," the entities maintain that civil society must use "all legal tools at its disposal." "The courts have proven to be, once again, the last bulwark against decisions that science does not support," added Oberhuber.
In this scenario, he announced that the plaintiff organizations will maintain the judicial route "as many times as necessary." "It is what we owe to a species persecuted for centuries and which, finally, was beginning to recover, very timidly, only a part of what we took away," concluded Ernesto Díaz.
Ecologistas en Acción is a confederation formed by more than 300 environmental groups spread throughout the Spanish State, dedicated to the defense of the environment and the construction of a more just and sustainable society.
The Fund for the Protection of the Iberian Wolf, promoted by the Platform for the Defense of the Cantabrian Mountains, channels resources for legal, communication, and environmental education actions, and has the support of more than 60 organizations from Spain and Portugal.