International

Defending grazing routes

MADRID: Shepherds from across the world joined their Spanish colleagues to lead flocks of sheep through the streets of downtown Madrid on Sunday in defence of ancient grazing routes threatened by urban sprawl and man-made frontiers.

While every year Spanish herdsmen protest their rights by herding hundreds of sheep along the capital’s exclusive, tree-lined boulevards and luxury store-filled avenues, this year they were joined by colourfully attired shepherds from 32 countries who had been taking part in a world gathering of nomad and transhumance shepherds.

Transhumance is the practice of seasonal livestock movement. In Spain it involves a million animals — sheep, cattle and others. The protest, now in its 15th year, seeks to highlight a tradition that has for centuries allowed herdsmen the right to use 78,000 miles of Spanish paths in seasonal livestock migrations from cool highland pastures in summer to warmer low-lying spaces in winter.

Some paths have been used annually for more than 800 years. Modern-day Madrid lies slap in the way of two venerable north-south routes, one dating back to 1372.

A relatively modern city by European standards, Madrid inherited its status as capital of Spain’s empire only when King Philip II fixed his court here in 1561.

As a result, the Puerta del Sol — a thronging plaza that is Madrid’s equivalent of New York City’s Times Square or London’s Piccadilly Circus, now lies in the way of one of these routes.

While the routes are protected by Spanish law, modern life including housing developments, highways and railways have eroded time-honoured paths.

Around the globe, grazing rights are increasingly endangered by modern development, officials said.

“It’s a contradiction to think that in a world that is increasingly globalised nomad shepherds can’t wander freely with their flocks due to political difficulties stemming from frontier crossings,” said Benigno Varillas, spokesman for the world shepherd gathering.

The world gathering had been opened Saturday in the highland pastureland of La Granja, north of Madrid, by Portugal’s secretary of state for agriculture and cattle raising, Luis Vieira.

Portugal currently holds the European Union’s presidency. The sheep used in the protest spend time grazing in a park on the city’s western outskirts before processing through the city on their way south.— AP

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