Spain's wild horses in peril, despite key role in prevention

The wildfires that used to burn each summer in the woods above the Spanish village of Barro have diminished to almost none since Lucia Perez started grazing wild horses there. “There used to be fires every year but since 2019 when we started coming here we’ve had one small fire in the first year and nothing since,” said Perez, 37, explaining how by clearing the undergrowth between the trees the horses help stop fires igniting and spreading. Fire prevention is one of several roles wild horses play in preserving the northwestern region of Galicia’s delicate ecosystems, scientists say. But Europe’s largest herd of wild horses has dwindled to less than half the 22,000 that roamed its mountains, forests and heathlands in the 1970s.

On the Serra da Groba heath 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Barro, a herd of wild horses feasts on the yellow flowers of gorse, “selectively clearing” a plant that is especially combustible, said Laura Lagos, a researcher at the University of A Coruna. This allows other plants such as purple-flowering heather and white asphodels to thrive, she said. It also helps preserve the heather around peat bogs, abundant in sphagnum mosses, one of the most effective ecosystems for capturing carbon.

A 2021 study by the University of A Coruna, in which Lagos took part, found that grazing heathlands by wild horses was best for preventing wildfires while promoting plant biodiversity and capturing carbon, when compared to other potential uses of the land such as planting long-term pine forests, short-term Eucalyptus forests or grazing by domestic animals. “Studies show that where wild horses graze the heath’s biodiversity increases,” Lagos said. “They are a fundamental part of the ecosystem. They benefit both the flora and the fauna associated with these open spaces.”

Grazing by sheep and cows can also prevent fires, but the horses have particular physiological characteristics that allow them to thrive in Galicia’s terrain, including moustaches that appear designed to protect their lips from the prickly gorse. “They seem specially adapted to eat gorse and are hardy — a cow can’t live year round on the heath,” Lagos said.

Drier, hotter weather due to climate change is increasing the frequency of wildfires in Galicia. The region lost 96,900 hectares through fires between 2001 and 2023, according to Global Forest Watch. This has coincided with the proliferation in Galicia of the Eucalyptus tree, a pyrophyte species that depends on fires to help it release and spread seeds. Eucalyptus trees also reduce pasture for the horses as only ferns grow under them.

Brought from Australia to Galicia by a missionary in the 19th century, they have spread thanks to demand for their wood from local pulp mills and now account for 28% of all trees in Galicia, according to a local government study. In September, the village of San Colmede was spared from a fire that ripped through 270 hectares of Eucalyptus and scrub in the surrounding hills thanks to grazing by animals and by the native oaks, sweet chestnuts and birches that grow near the village and burn more slowly, acting as a shield, said firefighter Cesar Leiros.

“We saw the village surrounded by fire but thanks to native trees, the clearing we do, and the clearing our animals do, the village was saved,” Leiros said. Rock carvings depicting wild horses being hunted by men are evidence of their existence in Galicia dating back to the Neolithic period.

In time, humans and horses developed a relationship. Known as “besteiros” in the Galician dialect, people would look out for the health of the free-roaming horses in exchange for occasionally domesticating one or selling it for meat. They would round up the horses once a year in events known as the “rapa das bestas” or “shearing of the beasts” to be deloused, vaccinated, and have their manes cut to make it harder for wolves to catch them.

These evolved into festivals, with the most famous in Sabucedo drawing thousands of tourists who come to see the horses wrestled to the ground to be treated. Perez, who works in a school, runs a smaller rapa with her stonemason husband Niko Souto, 41, in the village of Amil. They don’t make a profit, she said. The proceeds help pay for fencing to stop the horses wandering onto roads or farmland. Costs, including vet fees, insurance, fencing, microchipping and GPS equipment for tracking, are multiplying, Souto said.

The horses are classified as livestock and Javier Alvarez-Blazquez, a retired lawyer who owns ten horses in the Serra da Groba, wants new legislation that recognises their unique circumstances.

The Galician regional government should help besteiros cover some of the costs of looking after them, he said. The sale of a foal can generate 60 euros ($65.08) but it doesn’t compensate for expenses — excluding insurance and erecting fencing — of about 100 euros a year per horse, he said.

Increasing the number of horses could even save the government money, said Melina Barrio, an economist at the University of Alcala. She estimates that each horse carries out clearing to prevent fires that would cost between 8,000 and 10,000 euros per year if humans did it. Galicia’s regional government acknowledged the role wild horses play in preventing forest fires and preserving ecosystems, but said that the current legislation was adequate for their conservation because the horses can generate an income by being sold or through tourism from the rapa festivals.

“Although these animals are bred in the wild, in reality they have an owner and there is an economic benefit,” the government said in an emailed statement.

“In this sense, it is logical to consider horses as livestock, in accordance with European and Spanish legislation on the matter, and therefore they are not exempt from complying with obligations relating to health, animal welfare or herd control,” it said.

Besteiros receive some help on costs, such as with the implanting of microchips for identification, the government added.

Carlos Souto, Niko’s father, said the horses were descending from the hills more frequently in search of pasture as Eucalyptus plantations spread, meaning they needed more minding. From visiting his horses once a week he is now going every morning, while Niko and Lucia go in the evening after work. Niko said the horses were becoming used to their presence and their behaviour was changing — they were becoming less wild. Alvarez-Blazquez said without the besteiros, the horses would die out, killed by cars or local farmers angry at the horses transgressing onto their crops and tree plantations. “We are guardians doing it as a hobby. Our only aim is to preserve this animal that we believe is an ecological jewel,” he said.