Paredes de Coura opens house to balance the conflict between man and wolf

The municipality of Paredes de Coura inaugurates on Friday the House of Biodiversity “support and search for solutions” that allow a “balance in the universal and secular conflict” between man and the wolf.

[dropcap type=”default”]”T[/dropcap]he House of Biodiversity is not the space of the wolf, it is the space of people who need help to deal with the wolf. They need help to protect themselves, knowing them well and avoiding their losses and, above all, to know how they must act to be reimbursed when it was not possible to protect them, “said Mayor of Paredes de Coura.

“We do not want miracles, we seek solutions,” he said. “We do not want miracles, we seek solutions,” he said.

According to data provided by the socialist autarch, the last attack of the wolf to a herd happened two months ago, in the parish of Ferreira. Already in the week, Vitor Paulo Pereira said, a wolf was found shot dead in the area between Cossourado and Sapardos, on the border of Paredes de Coura and Vila Nova de Cerveira, both in Viana do Castelo district.

Vítor Paulo Pereira says that it is necessary to end this “immemorial conflict between the wolf and the man“, who, he defended, “born of the deep fear of the animal and that is instilled early in the children, through the idea of the bad wolf.”

“This fear feeds more and more from ignorance and turns into hatred when we are confronted with the harm that the animal causes. We are not presumptuous to the point of saying that we want to solve this problem, what we want with this project is to restore some balance in this relationship and, through this balance, ensure the preservation of the animal and the quality of life of people, ” said the mayor.

Vítor Paulo Pereira recalled that protecting biodiversity is not an option, but “a matter of survival as a sustainable and creative territory.”

“The protection of the Iberian wolf can only be achieved if we do not forget that people are also part of the biodiversity, so only helping and working with them can guarantee the protection of the wolf,” he said.

The House of Biodiversity, to be inaugurated on Friday morning in a ceremony that will have the Minister of the Environment, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, is part of the project “The Wolf and the Man” that the Câmara de Paredes de Coura is developing and which represents an investment of more than 138 thousand euros, financed by funds from the North 2020.

The House of Biodiversity, estimated at more than 100 thousand euros, resulted from the restoration of the building of a former parish council headquarters in Castanheira.

The property was vacant and “reopens doors transformed into Casa da Biodiversidade“, a space of “support to owners harmed by the attack of the wolves and scientific investigation, since it is in her that will be installed the field base of the Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources of the University of Porto (CIBIO) “.

“The idea is to face this long-standing problem and make it an advantage for the population, thereby ensuring effective preservation of the species. The conflict of the past has different contours and does not allow today the choice between the side of the wolf or the side of the man, the option is between the side of the problem and the side of the solution “, said Vítor Paulo Pereira.

The Wolf and the Man project has partners such as the Village Association, CIBIO, the Iberian Lobo Habitat Conservation Association (ACHLI) and the collaboration of the Institute for Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF).