Hunters are preparing their rifles. The Ministry of Agriculture is finalizing, in collaboration with the autonomous communities, a proposal to lift the European ban on hunting the turtle dove, which has allowed the recovery of the species, according to the ministerial working document consulted by elDiario.es.
To encourage hunters to shoot these birds again the following season – 2025, since the turtle dove is hunted between late August and mid-September – Spain must demonstrate that it will be able to respect a certain maximum quota of dead turtle doves each year. “This must be sufficiently demanding for the Commission to take us seriously and agree to lift the moratorium,” the statement reads. Proposal for a catch control systems of the general sub-directorate of livestock and hunting production which was discussed last week.
The documentation is due to be submitted to the EU’s bird recovery task force on October 3 and then discussed among member states as a possible turtle dove hunt is established for the entire western migratory corridor – which includes Spain, France, Portugal and part of Italy.
The Ministry of Agriculture responded to elDiario.es that the moratorium is “subject to an annual review based on the evolution of data on the turtledove population throughout the corridor” and that during the years 2022 and 2023 “they show a significant recovery.” a species that will probably be maintained in the current campaign of 2024, since the moratorium will continue to be in force. For this reason, they add, “it is possible to maintain in the medium term the objective of recovering the European turtledove in a way compatible with the reintroduction of a hunting quota.”
How much will these costs be for Spain? This has not yet been decided. It is clearer, according to the ministerial document, that of what corresponds to it, Andalusia will have 33%, Castilla-La Mancha 17% and Castilla y León another 12%, which are among those that have historically killed the most pieces. It remains to be determined what to do if an autonomous community does not do it spend its percentage.
Stop Killing Worked
The measure to suspend the hunting of turtle doves was introduced by the European Commission in 2018. However, Spain dragged its feet and many autonomous communities allowed these turtle doves to be killed for several more years, despite Brussels opening a sanction file and the Public Ministry of the Environment opening a sanction file. The Bureau warned and wrote to 13 regional governments not to allow this practice. The moratorium was activated in Spain in 2021. The additional seasons resulted in the death of around two million doves.
Stopping the killing of specimens has worked: the years without hunting have allowed a “rapid recovery”, according to the assessment of the Hunting Resources Institute (IREC). A result far from the predictions of the hunting sector which claimed that a moratorium “would jeopardize the future of the species”.
But it seems that these same hunters may be starting to count down the days before they shoot European turtle doves again. It’s not that they didn’t have prey available in the reserves: in 2021 alone, they shot 4.6 million thrushes, 2.6 million pigeons, 2.5 million partridges and a million quails, all small game birds like the European turtle dove.
Agriculture insists that “the evolution of demographic data means that sustainable hunting can be achieved next year without extending the current moratorium.”
For next summer
The plan under preparation includes various measures to control that hunters do not exceed the quota allocated to each autonomous community.
Physical seals can be placed on the killed specimens, which “implies concentrating hunting in certain areas.” It is also believed that “the majority of turtle doves are hunted in one or two days,” the document says. “If the system works and the quota is respected, we will consider opening the hunt for a longer period in 2026,” they add.
The other system being discussed is the “digital seal.” This is a mobile phone application that includes data on “the species hunted, the hunter, the date and time of capture and the area in which the capture took place.” In theory, the proposal admits, “when the quota is reached [asignado] all activity should automatically cease” in this reserve.
It is envisaged that the first day of the new turtledove season could be August 23 or 30, 2025.
Furthermore, with the idea that Europe opens up by hand and hunters kill turtledoves again, it will be necessary to deploy a system of inspection and control through, for example, “agents of the authorities (Environment, Forests, Corps of Rural Agents, or perhaps also Civil Guard, etc.) to carry out a surveillance campaign throughout the territory during the half-season.
