The main concern focuses on the rise of tuberculosis in wild animals, especially in wild boars and other ungulates, and a sanitary protocol that, according to farmers, severely penalizes the sector while the disease spreads freely through the forests.
Current regulations mandate the culling of all livestock on a farm if a single positive case of tuberculosis is detected. Farmers consider this measure excessive, as the contagion does not originate from livestock movement but from contact with wild animals.
“"Catalonia remains an indemne zone for domestic animals, but knowing as we do that there is contaminated fauna, continuing like this is suicide."
The sector demands a return to the previous protocol, which allowed only the infected animal to be culled, and calls for "rapid and immediate" action on a game fauna they consider "totally out of control".
The Federation of Sheep and Goat Farmers of Catalonia has lamented that, despite farmers strictly adhering to sanitary controls for over 40 years, insufficient measures are being applied to curb contagions originating from the natural environment. Sector representatives warn that livestock farming could disappear in the Pyrenees if differentiated zones are not created that consider the reality of the territory and the accredited presence of carrier fauna.
In addition to diseases, there has also been a reported increase in wolf and bear attacks in recent weeks. The leadership of ASAJA Catalonia has criticized that current policies "protect wild fauna more than the people who keep the territory alive".
The issue could extend beyond the primary sector and become a public health problem, as there is concern about potential contamination of water sources in mountain municipalities that draw directly from ravines and springs in contact with sick wild animals.
To ensure the sector's viability, farmers are requesting a review of the sanitary protocol that prioritizes selective culling, adaptation of regulations to the reality of the Pyrenees, effective game control to reduce populations of disease-carrying wild fauna, and a protection plan for extensive livestock farming against the growing threat of large predators. ASAJA Catalonia has urged administrations to engage in dialogue with the sector to find solutions.
