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 after we began coming right here, we’ve had one small fireplace within the first yr and nothing since,” Perez, 37, stated. She defined that the horses assist cut back the danger of wildfires by clearing the undergrowth between timber, stopping fires from igniting and spreading.
Fireplace 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 Seventies, about 22,000 wild horses roamed the area’s mountains, forests and heathlands. In the present day, solely half stay.
On the Serra da Groba heathland, positioned 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 stop wildfires,” stated Laura Lagos, a researcher on the College of A Coruna.
Horse grazing permits different vegetation, similar to purple-flowering heather and white asphodels, to flourish, Lagos defined. “It additionally helps protect the heather round peat bogs, that are ample in sphagnum mosses – one of the efficient ecosystems for capturing carbon,” she stated.
A 2021 examine by the College of A Coruna wherein Lagos participated discovered that wild horse grazing was the simplest technique for stopping wildfires, selling plant biodiversity and capturing carbon. The examine in contrast this technique 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 also assist cut back wildfire dangers by means 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 as a consequence of local weather change is rising the frequency and depth of wildfires in Galicia. From 2001 to 2023, fires burned by means of 970sq km (375sq miles) within the area, in accordance with International Forest Watch.
This pattern has coincided with the proliferation of eucalyptus timber, dropped at Galicia from Australia by a missionary within the nineteenth century. The timber 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 accordance with a neighborhood authorities examine. 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. Generally known as “besteiros” within the Galician dialect, folks historically monitored the well being of free-roaming horses in change for sometimes domesticating or promoting them for meat.
Every year, the horses had been rounded up throughout occasions referred to as “rapa das bestas”, or “shearing of the beasts”. Throughout these gatherings, the animals had been deloused, vaccinated and had their manes trimmed to forestall wolves from catching them.
In the present day, the “rapa das bestas” has advanced right into a cultural pageant. Probably the most well-known occasion in Sabucedo attracts hundreds of vacationers yearly, who collect to observe locals wrestle wild horses to the bottom for therapy.
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.
