PACMA has sent a letter to the autonomous governments of the Peninsula to urge them to prohibit hunting in order to recover herbivore populations. According to the animalist organization, the presence of these animals, which graze naturally in the mountains, would help to curb the spread of wildfires.
The party denounces that, while "more and more municipalities" are introducing animals into their environments to graze and help prevent fires, the autonomous communities (CCAA) are "encouraging the killing for sport of millions" of wild herbivores, such as deer, fallow deer, roe deer, or mountain goats. PACMA argues that these species could naturally perform that cleaning task by feeding on grass, shrubs, and weeds.
Furthermore, the organization emphasizes that the prohibition of hunting would also prevent fires "directly caused by this activity." It recalls, in this context, the fire in Aliseda (Cáceres) in 2025, which devastated 4,000 hectares. The then Extremadura counselor of Presidency and Interior and now vice president of the Junta, Abel Bautista, stated to the media that the fire originated from "economic interests" linked to hunting activity.
The party also cites a study from the Superior Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) that concluded that "protected areas, where hunting activity is prohibited, such as national parks, experience fewer wildfires than their peripheral areas."
As PACMA recalls, the state agency pointed out that "Hunting depletes herbivore populations, conditions their distribution, and prevents them from fully developing their ecological functions. Among them, the reduction of combustible vegetation. Nature has its own mechanisms of regulation and defense. It is human intervention that alters them and causes imbalances."
On the other hand, PACMA argues that livestock farming also forms "part of the problem." In its view, it is "undeniable" that the sharp increase in the consumption of animal products has led to the replacement of extensive livestock farming with intensive models and that, where hundreds of domestic animals used to graze that contributed to the maintenance of natural fuel, now there are "millions crammed" into factory farms without access to pasture.
In this line, the training recalls the fire in Burgohondo (Ávila) recorded in July, caused by "negligence" in the use of heavy machinery and which ended up burning more than 50,000 ha. PACMA denounces that "More than 80% of the fires are caused by human action, highlighting practices related to livestock farming, such as agricultural burns and the use of engines and heavy machinery in the mountains, as in the case of Ávila".