Lisbon, June 2, 2026 (Lusa) - Portugal's Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) denied on Tuesday that there had been delays in compensating farmers affected by attacks by the Iberian wolf, whilst associations and academics put forward proposals to protect the species.
“There have been repeated reports of delays of more than one and two years [in the payment of compensation to livestock farmers affected by Iberian wolf attacks, as provided for in the current species protection programme]. I wish to state clearly that this is not in the least bit true,” said Paulo Salsa, vice-president of the ICNF’s Governing Board, during a hearing at parliament, in the Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries, at the request of parties PAN and Chega.
Researcher Raquel Godinho, from BIOPOLIS/CIBIO – Centre for Research on Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, advocated a system of “positive compensation”, in which producers “are compensated when they support the species, when they have breeding packs in their territories”.
Regarding the Alcateia 2025-2035 programme, the government created to protect the Iberian wolf, the scientist offered a suggestion: “The success of this programme should not be measured by the number or speed of compensation payments, but by the ability to create territories where such compensation becomes increasingly unnecessary.”
Marta Cálix, director of Ecological Restoration at ARIP – Associação Rewilding Iberia PT, said that the Iberian wolf and nature conservation policy cannot “continue to depend on an institute such as the ICNF, which combines functions that are incompatible with one another”.
“Portugal needs a nature conservation and restoration institute with a single, clear mandate, dedicated exclusively to the protection and restoration of nature,” she maintained.
In her view, “as long as conservation remains a secondary function within an overburdened body, under dual supervision and lacking appropriate resources, we will continue to face the same problems”.
“To say that the wolf is a calamity for livestock farmers is the elephant in the room. What is failing is not the law, but its enforcement. The legal deadline for payment of compensation is 60 days. Delays have been one to two years. It is a systematic legal violation that inevitably exacerbates conflicts,” she warned.
Marta Cálix also advocated for the promotion of wild predators as “one of the most effective and least utilised levers for structurally reducing predation on livestock herds”, referring to population boosts for wild boar and deer.
Palombar – Association for the Conservation of Nature and Rural Heritage – acknowledged that “the losses suffered by many farmers are real and require a more effective public response”, warning that “the available scientific evidence does not support the idea that culling wolves solves this problem”.
"On the contrary, several studies indicate that increased mortality can disrupt wolf packs and contribute to a worsening of attacks in the following period," the association said, adding that "the current status of the wolf in Portugal does not show a consolidated recovery" but rather "significant territorial setbacks".
Francisco Petrucci-Fonseca, of GRUPO LOBO – Association for the Conservation of the Wolf and its Ecosystem, highlighted “several flaws in the compensation system” for farmers, called for agricultural support and “direct aid for the construction and improvement of fences”, as well as “the creation of a rapid response team to act in urgent situations, such as attacks on protected cats, significant damage or in sensitive areas, immediately implementing protective measures”.
The Alcateia 2025-2035 Programme, launched by the government, has a 2026 budget of €3.3 million to protect wolves and compensate farmers. It has identified four population centres in the country: Peneda/Gerês, Alvão/Padrela, Bragança and the Southern Douro, totalling 58 wolf packs (56 confirmed, 2 probable) and around 300 animals.
ACG/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
