Roe deer reintroduction in central Portugal: a tool for Iberian wolf conservation

Summary

In the Arada, Freita and Montemuro (AFM) mountains of central Portugal, roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) had become virtually extinct, leaving the Endangered Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus) with little natural prey and driving livestock attacks and human-wolf conflict. Researchers from the University of Aveiro and the Iberian Wolf Habitat Conservation Association (ACHLI) restored a wild prey base by reintroducing roe deer sourced from Spain, chosen after genetic analysis of Portuguese and Spanish populations. Feasibility work included habitat suitability modeling, veterinary screening protocols, and six years of negotiating socio-economic and bureaucratic hurdles, backed by long-term funding from the private Wolf Fund. Three releases took place: 12 animals in November 2013, 24 in November 2014, and 22 in November 2015, each into a separate nucleus a few kilometres apart, with half of every group fitted with GPS collars. Post-release monitoring combined GPS tracking, pellet-group transects, camera traps and vantage-point counts to study habitat selection, reproduction and survival. Poaching, summer wildfires and some GPS collar failures caused losses, especially in the first year, but the population reproduced and expanded across the AFM range, and the project was widely welcomed locally. The project rates itself successful, citing large, balanced release groups across multiple nuclei, sustained funding, and political and stakeholder support, and it is now recognized as an important contribution to Iberian wolf conservation.