SummaryThe human abandonment of rural areas facilitates rewilding, which is also supported by European projects and initiatives. Rewilding often implies the return of iconic predators such as the wolf (Canis lupus), leading to human–wildlife conflicts. To reverse human depopulation, initiatives such as the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidize extensive grazing of areas unsuitable for intensive agriculture. Therefore, rewilding and reversing depopulation initiatives seem to be mutually incompatible, and further insight into controversial aspects of the return of apex predators is needed when considering the reform of the CAP for post-2020. To develop understanding of these different objectives in the context of large carnivore recolonizations, we analysed wolf attacks on livestock in central Spain, where livestock is managed differently between the plateau and the mountains. As with other European regions, this area is undergoing rural abandonment and is subsidized by the CAP. Free-roaming cattle at higher elevations were subject to increased attacks irrespective of the abundance of wild prey. Efforts to subsidize human repopulation of areas experiencing recolonization by large carnivores require consideration of a model of cohabitation with these predators assisted by mitigation and compensation measures. Rewilding could bring alternative sustainable income based on the values brought by the presence of large carnivores and associated ecosystem services.

中文翻译：

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促进放牧或野化计划以防止农村外流？必须考虑狼和其他大型食肉动物的回归

总结农村地区的人类遗弃促进了野化，这也得到了欧洲项目和倡议的支持。野化通常意味着狼等标志性捕食者的回归（犬狼疮)，导致人类与野生动物的冲突。为了扭转人口减少，欧盟共同农业政策 (CAP) 等倡议对不适合集约农业的地区进行广泛放牧补贴。因此，重新野化和扭转人口减少计划似乎是相互矛盾的，在考虑 2020 年后 CAP 的改革时，需要进一步深入了解顶级掠食者回归的争议方面。为了在大型食肉动物重新殖民化的背景下了解这些不同的目标，我们分析了西班牙中部狼对牲畜的袭击，那里的牲畜在高原和山区之间的管理方式不同。与其他欧洲地区一样，该地区正在经历农村遗弃，并由 CAP 提供补贴。无论野生猎物的丰富程度如何，在高海拔地区自由漫游的牛都会受到更多的攻击。为在经历大型食肉动物重新殖民化的地区提供人口重新安置的努力需要考虑与这些食肉动物同居的模式，并辅以缓解和补偿措施。基于大型食肉动物和相关生态系统服务的存在所带来的价值，野化可以带来替代的可持续收入。