Hard Truths of Conservation (2022) s01e12 Episode Script

1
- [Dan] Hunting in Spain
has always been a big part
of the culture and to
this day is practiced
by almost a million
of its inhabitants.
The hunting industry
contributes 6.4 billion Euro
to the economy each year.
The ibex is one of the
most iconic species to hunt
with four subspecies
native to Spain.
Their pursuit has
been a cornerstone
in Spanish culture
for centuries.
I'm traveling to Spain
for a hunting trip
with my family to pursue
this hard to reach species
in its natural habitat
while immersing
ourselves in the culture.
Hunting has become a
controversial practice
in modern times.
My name is Dan Cabela and
I'm traveling the globe to
explore the true impact
that hunting is having
on our remaining
wild landscapes.
This practice goes as far back
as human history can remember
but does it have a place
in modern conservation?
(string music)
- Well, we finally
made it to Spain.
We're in a little village.
This place looks like
a miniature castle.
It's beautiful.
- [Dan] My parents
first traveled to Spain
in 1987 on a hunting trip
and it's a place I've always
wanted to visit with my family.
Hunter's dollars
play a vital role
in the conservation of
species like the ibex,
and I am looking forward
to learning exactly how.
There is a healthy ibex
population in Spain today.
But that wasn't always the case.
In the 1920s King
Alfonso XIII created
the first ever national
preserve in Gredos
Precisely to conserve
the Gredos' ibex
one of the four subspecies
occurring in Spain
which was close to
extinction at the time.
The hunting law was introduced
in the 1970s to regulate
the hunting season
and limit the number of
tags issued each year.
- [Juan] There's no free
hunting everybody that wants
to hunt here, it's done through
the auctions and everybody
if you want to buy one, you
go to the auction like we do
and then buy the tags.
So all of that money is
pooled into the, into
the national preserve
- [Dan] The local society
of hunters is doing a
lot to protect wildlife
and natural habitat
for all the species that
occur in the region.
They have built and maintained
waterholes that are utilized
by all the local fauna.
They also plant food plots
and do road maintenance with
funds generated from hunting.
Each hunter visiting
the country brings
in tens of thousands
of dollars of revenue.
- The town owns the property
of the land and the property
of the ibex's and the town
gives them those permits
to be sold, and that money
goes back to them to build this
or build the, the water
for the partridges
or the salt or the grain.
They make the roads, plow to
plant, all of those things.
- And that's all funded
through through hunting.
- Yeah, exactly.
(Spanish)
- Every year the money of
every year's money has to go
into the conservation
of the ibex, every year.
He says in, in
years in of drought
because this area has
quite a bit of drought
80 to 90% of the, of the
money that is received
from the ibex has to go to
water and food for all the gain.
And if the populations
are healthier
of ibex or partridges, they
give them a higher number
of permits because they
do a census every year.
So if the those
populations are healthier
there's more animals
and they will get more
permits in the future.
So they work for, for more
conservation, more animals,
more hunting and going,
it's like a circle.
- [Dan] I'm traveling to the
Gredos' mountain range to
hunt the first of the four
ibex, we will hunt in Spain.
The Gredos ibex.
I think it's very
meaningful to hunt an animal
that is difficult to
get to and hunt them
in their environment.
And to be able to put
yourself to the test to
actually accomplish this
type of hunt means a lot.
Hunting ibex is kind
of an all day affair.
You spend hours
glassing trying to
find a mature old, billy ibex.
And then once you actually
spot a mature ibex - billy
it's usually not
a short distance.
There's usually a
good bit of elevation.
Typically it takes, you
know, anywhere from one
to four to five hours
to spot and stalk a
mature billy ibex.
(string music) (birds chirping)
- We've seen several
ibex this morning.
Lots of females,
quite a few males.
We did see a, a very
nice male that, that they
they aged at 12,
we passed on him
'Cause we're looking for
something a little bit older.
But things look promising.
There's a lot of movement
and activity out here.
- Great effort is put
into only taking the
very old males that
have already passed
on their genetics and are
passed their breeding prime.
- This is the, in my
opinion, is the best tool.
You know, shoot the oldest
what we're looking for
is 15, 14, 16 even.
Something that is already
suffering maybe, less teeth
or the teeth are not very good.
He cannot eat.
He can get not strong enough to
to go in the rut, not strong
to go, to go running around.
So it's just to shoot
the oldest, in my opinion
is the best conservation tool
for the, for the species.
(soft piano music)
(water trickling)
- [Dan] After two
full days of searching
we were given our
first real opportunity
at an old billy ibex.
- He's right there.
- Hello
- Right there.
(adventurous music)
(gunshot)
(light piano music)
(leaves crunching)
- What an incredible morning.
We worked hard, did some
hiking, struck out early
and then we came over to
another area and you guys picked
up this old billy standing
on this ledge over here
and uh, took a long
shot across the canyon
and, and here we go.
We've got an old
mature ibex here.
Can, can you give us
an idea of how you guys
from that distance can judge
the age uh, of a, of an ibex?
Whether it's mature or not?
- Yeah. When we saw it
over there, you know
one of the main things
is the, is the markings.
You know, the black of
the animals, the, the
the old mature animals
are normally really
really black like this one.
And also the shape of the horns
you see how they're pointing up.
It's already finishing the
turn, you know how it sweeps up.
And then you can start
counting the rings of, of
of the edge because this
is when they are rotting
they stop eating completely.
So you can really see, you know
when they are rotting
and there's no eating.
So you can count the
years very clearly.
- Thanks again, Juan, for
an incredible experience.
- Absolutely.
Congratulations.
- Thank you.
(light piano music)
- [Dan] Meticulous records
are taken by the gamekeepers
after the harvest to
document general health
and age to better
manage the species.
(light piano music)
As is true across
much of the world
human impact has
had a serious effect
on wildlife through
the spread of disease
In Spain there are
ibex that have picked
up mange from domestic goats,
as well as entire herds
that have been
infected with scabies.
This is taking a massive
toll on their population.
But the local society of hunters
has been working on a solution
by deploying ivermectin
treatment at the Salt Lakes.
They have been
seeing some success.
(string music)
- [Juan] We're using a
natural salt lake that
has been used forever,
and we are gonna put some
more salt and then the
ivermectin, for the scabies,
you know? It's a huge
problem in this area,
and they're putting salt
and a lot of feed with
the ivermectin in it so
they cure themselves.
We can get the ivermectin
in blocks like that
and we have to grind
it and then mix it
with also rock salt,
not just blocks of salt.
(string music)
All this is salt, you
know, coming from the rock
you can see the, the, the,
the shape of the mouth.
That's why we use this
place to put the food
and the salt for them because
they're used to come here
you know, for, for centers.
You can see here, see also,
- Yeah
- There's big population here
or it was really
healthy population
but the ibex are very
gregarious animals.
They are always in bunches.
So it's, it's very easy
to, to, to pass the
disease from one ibex
to the next because they're
together all the time.
- What does the scabies
do to the, to the ibex?
What's the impact on the animal?
- So the scabies is
is a parasite that
goes underneath your
skin and makes like
like caves in your skin.
So your skin starts dying.
And as the scabies,
as the parasite
continues to grow in
your, in your skin
all your skin dies and
you get infections.
That's why they die.
They don't die because
of the scabies itself.
It's because the infections
without the barrier of the skin,
a lot of things go into the body
of the ibex and then you die
of that, of those infections.
- (Spanish)
And it's all paid
by the hunters only,
not the government, right
now is not helping at all.
Only the, only the hunters.
- Why is it important for
the hunters and, and the
and the village to,
to support, you know
a program like this, to, to
try and keep the ibex healthy?
- (Spanish)
- He says that for many
villages, as you saw, as
you've been seeing there
might be 5, 6, 10 neighbors
in the village.
So probably the number
one source of income
from the village, it's
hunting, it's the permits
from the ibex.
So what, between the villagers
and the, and the hunters
what they're trying
to do is to maintain
as big a population as
possible to continue hunting
so they can use that
money in the town to make
you know, maybe roads or
whatever they need in the town.
- [Dan] Hunting in
Spain accounts for 0.3%
of GDP as well as the creation
of 186,000 jobs each year,
both directly and indirectly.
Our next stop takes us
to the Malaga province in
search of the Ronda ibex.
Although the smallest in stature
of the subspecies
occurring in Spain,
the terrain they're found
in makes for an incredibly
challenging hunt.
It's early morning,
we've arrived
at the area for the Ronda
Ibex, I'm just getting our tags
in order and it's pretty
brisk, beautiful morning.
Be getting started here shortly
and I'm looking forward to
another great day in Spain.
- [Dan] We are on the
hunt for an old Ronda
ibex and it's proving to
be quite the challenge.
So we did a really good stalk.
We got 18 yards from the ibex.
We were expecting the big one
to be with the other ones.
We'll keep on chasing them.
- It's been kind of a
lengthy first morning,
hunting the Ronda ibex out here.
We, we, uh just took
a break for lunch.
They had some ibex
that we cooked up here.
I've, I've never
had ibex before.
It was quite good and
I think we're refreshed
and we're gonna
get back after it.
(adventurous music)
- Often after you spot an
ibex that looks to be mature
there will be some
hiking involved
and you'll have to
cover some terrain and
and you have to
do it in a manner
to where they don't
wind you or see you.
So it can get difficult
at times approaching the ibex
depending on where they're at
and you just kind of
grind it out until you get
within shooting range and
make a successful stop.
(adventurous music)
(gunshot)
- Well, it's been a
pretty eventful day.
Took a very long shot
actually the longest
shot I've ever taken.
Very rocky kind of
terrible place actually.
But, but we did manage
to get him and he
and he's a heck of a trophy,
a, a beautiful old Ronda ibex
and very happy
about the results.
- After an intense hunt,
we took our time to soak
in the rich Spanish
history in this region.
- [Fernando Saiz] You
go to any small village
in Spain, you can find
a 16th century church
- To see all the gold that
they used in the churches.
And, it is amazing
- [Dan] With our batteries
recharged, we are heading
into the rugged Sierra
Nevada mountains to look
for the South Eastern ibex
which is larger and
darker than the Ronda
but smaller and
lighter in color than
the Beceite and Gredos.
Each mountain range we
traversed was more intense
and rocky than the last.
It takes a lot of determination
and grit to hunt these animals
in their natural habitat
and it's one of the most
exhilarating hunting
experiences I have ever had.
Yeah, so we, we spent a good bit
of the day looking for
mature South Eastern billy
and we had seen a couple,
but they were just, you know
impossible to get to and
the guy saw one way back
on the top where
we had come from.
So we quickly came
back up the mountain
got into position
fairly quickly.
It was based on what's
happened here so far,
a fairly close shot, 180 yards
and we got ourselves
a really nice Billy,
very nice South Eastern ibex.
Thank you.
- Congratulations.
- Great.
- [Dan] You know, the hunting
preserves in Spain are
are very well managed and
there are strict rules put
in place and the
quotas are limited.
These are high value animals,
so it doesn't take a lot
of them to be shot to
benefit the entire ecosystem
After some glassing we
spotted one in a valley
so the hiking wasn't as
challenging, but this also meant
that we needed to be especially
mindful of wind direction
and noise as not to alert
him to our presence.
(adventurous music)
(gunshot)
- Beautiful ibex.
Congratulations.
- The Beceite ibex
is the second largest
of the four subspecies,
both in body and horn size.
To have the privilege of
harvesting a magnificent animal
like this at the end of our
trip brings it all home.
I am grateful that
our dollars will go
towards protecting the species
and their pristine natural
habitat for future generations.
(hopeful music)
Well, Juan, we've had a
pretty cool adventure.
Really. We're struggling to
find a mature, Beceite ibex
but just like with a
lot of things in hunting
we just kept moving, kept
glassing, covering lots
of ground and then all of a
sudden, boom, there he was.
I couldn't be happier right now.
Spain's history is steeped
in hunting tradition.
There are trophies
that have been
on these walls longer
than I've been alive, and
it's this heritage that has
helped to protect these species
natural habitat in a modern
and developed country.
There is nothing
more special to me
than sharing an animal
that I have harvested
with my family and friends.
It was especially good to
share this with my mother
Mary and our host Fernando
who has known my
parents for many years
(string music)
(background chatter)
- If you look back to your
younger years when you were here
and then you started
this hunting company, the
the wildlife numbers in Spain
specifically, maybe even
the Gredos ibex and some
of those things, we talked
about, the the parks.
Where have they gone?
- Up, up, up, up,
up up. Incredible.
Through the protection, through
the gamekeeper everything
Incredible, and all the animals.
- How, how is that all paid for?
- I will say the hunters because
when we buy a permit for me
or for you, for
anybody, we pay a lot.
And that money goes
not to the government,
central government, it goes
to the local government to
protect that area.
And it's the only way that
the best conservation is,
are the hunters.
I mean, how I would like
my, my hunting estate.
I love to protect him for,
for the next generations.
What I am doing the best of
the best, for the animals
- [Dan] Millions of euros
are generated each year
through the
well-managed off take
of the various ibex subspecies,
the vast majority of
which is going back
into the sustainable
management of the species.
The hunting journey in Spain
was an amazing
experience for me.
It was very fulfilling
to see the amount
of effort and care
for conservation that
the locals had in
in harvesting very old,
mature billies and going out
of their way and working
very hard to make sure
that you're only taking
the oldest percentage
of the population.
I had a deep appreciation
for that and if that
were applied
everywhere on the globe
I think populations
would benefit.
(soft string music)
(bird noises)