Unfortunately for the wildlife of the region, a new devastating regional hunting law has been passed in the regional autonomy of Madrid, Spain, designed to allow hunting across 72% of the territory, spanning 575,000 hectares, every day of the year. The proposed legislation expands the number of Targeted Nonhuman Animals from 24 to 31 species, including wetland birds such as geese, ducks, and snipes, alongside wild boars, roe deer, foxes, hares, and rabbits. Annual slaughter figures in the region already show that around 9,000 wild boars and almost 500,000 rabbits are killed every year.
On 18th June 2026, the plenary session of the Assembly officially passed the new Hunting and Fishing Law of the Community of Madrid with the votes of the pro-hunting conservative parties People’s Party (PP) and Vox. The hunting sector represents 43,855 licences, accounting for only 0.63% of Madrid’s population. Alejandro Sánchez, deputy of Más Madrid who opposed the bill, said, “That 0.63% has decided on the remaining 99.37%, because the bill was drafted at the dictation of hunting organisations.”
The law establishes the hunting season from 1st April to 31st March, effectively permitting hunting all year round. It authorises night hunting using thermal vision devices to locate Nonhuman Animals and permits packs of 18 to 40 dogs per 40 hectares, allowing up to 500 dogs in a single event. These dogs remain excluded from animal protection legislation. Ángeles Nieto, from the Madrid Ecological Platform, said, “rehabilitates hunting methods that were prohibited due to their cruelty, such as pigeon hunting with a decoy and partridge with a decoy, methods that use live animals as decoys.”
Opponents criticise the lack of scientific rigour and ecological impact assessments, noting that hunters can kill female roe deer in September and October when lactating young still depend on them. José Luis García, deputy of the PSOE, said, “Two laws should have been made, one for hunting and another for fishing. But Ayuso’s Government has sinned through legislative laziness. It wanted to run very fast with this law knowing it could apply its parliamentary steamroller. This law is a bad copy of the hunting law that Cospedal approved in 2015 when she governed Castilla-La Mancha.”
