There will be murders, not wolves.
An alarming threat was received by phone at Ponga Town Hall in Asturias this week, prompting mayor Marta Alonso of the PSOE to file a police report. The Civil Guard has acknowledged the situation, noting that several individuals have reported similar intimidation since the incident escalated. Two severed wolf heads were left Friday in San Juan de Beleño, aligning with a day when the municipal Governing Council met. The town’s communications channels — phone lines, emails, and social networks — collapsed under the volume of insults and threats aimed at the municipality and its council members.
Allegations point to parliament as the target of the criminal act. Critics argue that Alonso’s rhetoric has drawn backlash from Pongueto farmers and reject any claim that farmers were complicit. They insist that the truth, once spoken, does not define Ponga. The mayor has been clear: defending the truth is not something she intends to abandon. She stressed that the parliament’s approach to the wolf problem differs. Her administration has filed a formal appeal against including wolves on the Special Conservation Regime for Wild Species, a designation the council views as misaligned with local realities.
“Murderers,” “scumbags,” “cavemen” and “ignorant people” — these insults have appeared in various municipal communications. A councilor suspects that some attacks originate from ecological groups, arguing that residents are being told to live with the animals next door while those voices may not fully represent the community’s needs.
Marta Alonso has advocated using upland areas for extensive livestock, noting a different emphasis from some environmental perspectives. She argued that discussions often pit domestic and wild animal interests against broad conservation goals, accusing certain eco-activist voices of pursuing their own subsidies and agendas. The mayor’s stance is that practical policy should reflect local conditions rather than distant ideological postures.
Alonso, who studied Environmental Sciences, contends that no party should presume to rank the value of one species over another. She noted that eight years of leadership have not brought environmentalists to Ponga in a bid to collaborate on local initiatives, such as developing the natural park and biosphere reserve in ways that genuinely help the council. She criticized what she described as external experts offering prescriptive solutions from afar, especially those who, in her view, fail to recognize the practical realities of life in Ponga. When there is work to be done, she argued, there is a vast forest to manage, with sheep and goats playing a crucial role in local land use. Frustration with perceived external dictates led her to describe the situation as bewildering and maddening.
The councilor emphasized that Ponga remains a natural park and Conservation Area because generations of residents have depended on the land for livelihoods. The people who live there are deeply invested in the community’s progress and future.
WWF review
Juan Carlos del Olmo, head of WWF Spain, published an article titled “Vandalism, populism and the Asturias wolf-leaving,” in which he criticized certain comments and defended the actions of authorities tasked with enforcing wildlife laws. He contended that there should be accountability for illegal hunting practices and criticized leadership for appearing to push for the removal of certain wolf populations rather than fostering coexistence with livestock and wildlife alike. He urged a balanced approach that weighs conservation with the needs of farmers and rural communities and criticized the portrayal of the issue as simply a matter of elimination rather than coexistence. (Source attribution: WWF Spain)