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A quantitative assessment of the release of farm-reared red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) for shooting in central Spain

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Abstract

The release of farm-reared game is considered a conflictive management tool because of its potential harmful ecological effects on wildlife and associated habitats. Estimates of the number of animals released and the area where this game management takes place could give an idea of the magnitude of their potential impacts. We aimed to quantitatively assess the release of farm-reared red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) in the province of Ciudad Real, central Spain, one of the main hunting areas in this country. We analysed the official permits that the regional government granted to the hunting estates to release farm-reared partridges between 2006 and 2012. Our results show that an average of 800,000 partridges were released annually in the study area. A decrease in the number of hunting estates that used this game management practice, as well as in the number of red-legged partridges officially released, was observed during the last years within the study period. This might be a consequence of the current economic crisis, rather than a change in management styles. Release intensity was spatially heterogeneous, being higher in the southeast of the study area, where historically red-legged partridge was more abundant. Most of the red-legged partridges released came from only four farms placed in northern Spain. Our results suggest that this management activity should be better monitored and that spatial regulations should also be considered.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the hunting administration of Ciudad Real province for providing us the data, particularly to L. Basurto. We also thank Dr. P. Acevedo, Dr. J.A. Blanco-Aguiar, A. Benítez and T. Canelo for their kind collaborations. This manuscript was improved by critical comments from J. Viñuela and C. Gortázar. J. Caro had postdoctoral contract jointly financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) and by the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla–La Mancha (JCCM, Spain), in the framework of the Operational Programme FSE 2007–2013. M. Delibes-Mateos is currently holding a JAE-Doc contract (Programa Junta para la Ampliación de Estudios), funded by CSIC and ESF. Work was supported by the European Commission (7th Framework Programme for R&D through project HUNT, 212160, FP7-ENV-2007-1) and by CSIC (PIE 201330E105).

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  1. Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo s/n. 13071, Ciudad Real, Spain

    Jesús Caro, Miguel Delibes-Mateos, Joaquín Vicente & Beatriz Arroyo

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  1. Jesús Caro
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  2. Miguel Delibes-Mateos
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  3. Joaquín Vicente
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  4. Beatriz Arroyo
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Correspondence to Jesús Caro.

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Communicated by C. Gortázar

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Caro, J., Delibes-Mateos, M., Vicente, J. et al. A quantitative assessment of the release of farm-reared red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) for shooting in central Spain. Eur J Wildl Res 60, 919–926 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-014-0861-9

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