Hunting - Evolution

Human beings have hunted since prehistoric times. In fact we know that the first humans used hunting, along with fishing and gathering in order to subsist. They went out looking for food, started a chase and   hunted down the animal. The resulting game would later feed various members of the tribe for quite a long time. As a matter of fact this means of subsistence is still practiced in some specific tribes, which live far away from modern society and therefore have limited access to certain foods.

However, that is the case for an extreme minority of those who call themselves hunters. The rest, in Europe and around the world, have converted hunting into a big business, often uncontrolled or irregular (in 2013 almost 1,700,000 hunting species were released in Spain, and of these only 142,173 were released by the authorities). It mostly presents itself to society in two ways. Firstly, as the “only tool” to manage those wild animal populations “which cause such inconvenience and are dangerous to society”, especially in urban and suburban areas. Secondly, that of recreational activity, sport and entertainment, in hunting areas, which hides a million-euro sector. 

In Catalonia

• We are part of the coalition La veritat de la cacera that aims to identify and regulate the risks represented by hunting activity.
• We lobby the public administration about anything regarding hunting.
• We negotiate and meet with the competent authorities to propose alternatives the current land management methods.
• We look into the experiences of other countries and propose ethical alternatives to population management.
• We collaborate with other institutions to promote the application of ethical hunting measures.
• We are working towards changing the law which establishes the means of control of recreational hunting.
• We publish articles and reports on hunting and its many consequences.
• We offer advice to those Catalan town councils which approach us.
• We participate in awareness campaigns against hunting.

• Get informed through La veritat de la cacera of the real implications of hunting for people, animals and the environment.
• Help us by sharing the information and publicity we put out with your contacts on social media.
• Write to your mayor or your town council, letting them know how you feel about hunts being held in the local area.
• If you have been the victim of any kind of accident caused either directly or indirectly by hunting, report it to the authorities.
• If you work for a town council in Catalonia and you need information in order to get ethical population management projects up and running, get in touch with us.