Iberian Wolf by danob
Close
Hover over top left image to zoom.
Click anywhere to exit.
Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.
No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
El Hombre y la Tierra was perhaps a film that may have changed the attitudes the the last remaining wild populations of this lovely wolf
Until the early 1970s the wolf was ‘officially' considered as a pest in Spain, and the government paid out bounties for dead wolves and distributed strychnine to landowners and peasants. At the time, many saw the wolf as a mark of a Third World country, in contrast to ‘civilized' nations like France and Britain who had successfully eradicated their wolf plagues.
On occasions in the past, persecution was widespread and crushing. An act passed by Principality of Asturias details that between March and December 1816, bounties were paid out for the death of 76 adult and 414 young wolves at 160 reales for an adult wolf and 32 for a wolf cub. The historian Juan Pablo Torrente concluded that the hunting of wild beasts, including wolves, bears and foxes represented, ‘in absolute and relative terms, a considerable source of wealth' for local populations. The lobero or wolf-hunter was a respected county figure until relatively recently, and a whole range of ingenious traps have been devised over the centuries to catch wolves. All are now illegal. It is however still legal to hunt wolves in most of Spain.
Despite that the wolf seems to be increasing in numbers, but this may be due more to the fact that in the last 40 years there has been a huge migration of people from the country to the towns. This depopulation has led to the regeneration of natural vegetation in former agricultural areas and the huge increase in prey species such as roe deer and boar.
Comments (43)
A wonderful study of this noble creature, Danny. A superb shot. Hugs. DiDi. xx
Wow...what an impressive portrait. Excellent shot!!
Intense and powerful closeup! This gave me the shivers seeing it full size on the monitor! Imagine waking up in your tent and seeing this in your face! Sadly, wolves and coyotes will always be hunted down and killed, when they are only doing what comes naturally to them.
Wonderful wolf portrait!!!
A beautiful portrait with nice detail. Excellent background info. In the Western US we much the same problem, not so much as a stigma of a third world country mentality but conflicting landuses. Most ranchers view the wolf as a vermin. There have been efforts to re-introduce wolfs around Yellowstone, with ranchers making all sorts of arguments against it. In Arizona and New Mexico they have been trying to re-introduce the Mexican Wolf, once native to this region. Success is so so. They keep finding dead wolfs and suspect ranchers. I think we saw one wolf in the meadows of the White Mountains in 2003 or 2004. We were sure it wasn't a coyote, and it kept its distance, at least 1/4 mile away and we never got any closer, Sig....
Looks like a wise guy !
Nice close-up. It needs some sharpening and contrast. Looks a little flat (like you took it through thick plastic)
Awesome shot taken by you.Excellent capture.
Wonderful portrait of this fellow.
I havn't seen that film - must look out for it sometime. This wolf has such penetrating eyes, even though it's not looking directly at the camera! Excellent capture and lighting mate!
Gorgeous Creature!! Gorgeous Shot!!
What a great close up portrait. Great image!
I like this capture a lot.