Spain's wild horses in peril, despite key role in wildfire prevention

Wild horses gather inside the enclosure, before they are dewormed and have their manes cut during the 'rapa das bestas' or 'shearing of the beasts' in the village of Sabucedo, Galicia, Spain, July 8, 2023. Every summer, locals round up the region's roughly 10,000 wild horses for their annual health check-up, but the cost including vet fees, insurance, fencing, microchipping and GPS equipment for tracking, are multiplying. "We are guardians doing it as a hobby. Our only aim is to preserve this animal that we believe is an ecological jewel," said horse owner Javier Alvarez-Blazquez. REUTERS/Nacho Doce

AMIL, Spain (Reuters) - The wildfires that used to burn each summer in the woods above the Spanish village of Barro have diminished to almost none since Lucia Perez started grazing wild horses there.

"There used to be fires every year but since 2019 when we started coming here we've had one small fire in the first year and nothing since," said Perez, 37, explaining how by clearing the undergrowth between the trees the horses help stop fires igniting and spreading.