The wildfires that when scorched the forests above the Spanish village of Barro every summer season have all however disappeared since Lucia Perez started grazing wild horses within the space.
“There was once fires yearly, however since 2019 once we began coming right here, we’ve had one small fireplace within the first 12 months and nothing since,” Perez, 37, stated. She defined that the horses assist scale back the chance of wildfires by clearing the undergrowth between bushes, stopping fires from igniting and spreading.
Hearth prevention is simply one of many ecological advantages wild horses present in Galicia, a area in northwestern Spain recognized for its delicate ecosystems.
Scientists stated Europe’s largest herd of untamed horses performs a key function in sustaining these landscapes though the inhabitants has dropped dramatically. Within the Nineteen Seventies, about 22,000 wild horses roamed the area’s mountains, forests and heathlands. Right this moment, solely half stay.
On the Serra da Groba heathland, situated 80km (50 miles) southwest of Barro, wild horses feed on the yellow flowers of gorse – a extremely flamable plant. “By selectively clearing [gorse], the horses assist forestall wildfires,” stated Laura Lagos, a researcher on the College of A Coruna.
Horse grazing permits different vegetation, akin to purple-flowering heather and white asphodels, to flourish, Lagos defined. “It additionally helps protect the heather round peat bogs, that are plentiful in sphagnum mosses – one of the vital efficient ecosystems for capturing carbon,” she stated.
A 2021 research by the College of A Coruna during which Lagos participated discovered that wild horse grazing was the simplest methodology for stopping wildfires, selling plant biodiversity and capturing carbon. The research in contrast this methodology with different land makes use of, together with planting long-term pine forests, short-term eucalyptus plantations and grazing by domesticated animals.
Though sheep and cattle may assist scale back wildfire dangers by way of grazing, Lagos famous that wild horses are uniquely tailored to Galicia’s rugged terrain. She highlighted one distinctive attribute: “moustaches that seem designed to guard their lips from the prickly gorse.”
Hotter, drier climate on account of local weather change is rising the frequency and depth of wildfires in Galicia. From 2001 to 2023, fires burned by way of 970sq km (375sq miles) within the area, in response to World Forest Watch.
This development has coincided with the proliferation of eucalyptus bushes, dropped at Galicia from Australia by a missionary within the nineteenth century. The bushes are pyrophytes, that means they depend on fireplace to launch and disperse their seeds. Their unfold has contributed to heightened fireplace dangers whereas additionally decreasing grazing pastures for wild horses as a result of solely ferns develop beneath them.
Galicia’s eucalyptus forests now account for 28 p.c of the area’s complete tree inhabitants, in response to a neighborhood authorities research. The demand for eucalyptus wooden from regional pulp mills has pushed the enlargement of those plantations.
The historical past of untamed horses in Galicia dates again hundreds of years. Rock carvings of horses being hunted by people counsel their presence within the area in the course of the Neolithic interval.
Over time, people and horses developed a symbiotic relationship. Often known as “besteiros” within the Galician dialect, folks historically monitored the well being of free-roaming horses in trade for sometimes domesticating or promoting them for meat.
Yearly, the horses have been rounded up throughout occasions referred to as “rapa das bestas”, or “shearing of the beasts”. Throughout these gatherings, the animals have been deloused, vaccinated and had their manes trimmed to stop wolves from catching them.
Right this moment, the “rapa das bestas” has developed right into a cultural pageant. Probably the most well-known occasion in Sabucedo attracts hundreds of vacationers yearly, who collect to look at locals wrestle wild horses to the bottom for remedy.
Whereas these traditions proceed to honour the connection between Galicia and its wild horses, the rising dangers of local weather change, habitat loss and declining herd numbers spotlight the pressing want to guard each the horses and the ecosystems they maintain.
