The idea was innovative as well as retro.
The Consistory of Barcelona launched all its informative machinery last week to announce, with great fanfare, that they had hired the services of a shepherd and his more than 200 sheep and goats to graze in the Collserola mountain range.
The animals would feed, for free, on the herbs that grow in the mountains, the shepherd would be paid for his work and —in return— the vegetation would be kept at bay, and thus prevent a disastrous forest fire.
Last Wednesday, the shepherd, Daniel Sánchez, 36, loaded his cattle in a truck in Sant Llorenç Savall (Vallès Occidental) and headed for Barcelona where he was received as an authority, blessed by the Councilor for Climate Emergency and Transition Ecological and escorted by the Guardia Urbana.
This Tuesday, six days after the premiere of the herd in the Catalan capital, EL PAÍS visited Sánchez.
His premiere in Collserola has not been easy.
The Consistory has not yet placed an awning so that the sheep can protect themselves from the sun and the rain.
The barracks —similar to the one that is installed when a work is carried out— that they placed for the shepherd has neither water nor electricity.
Sánchez quenches his thirst and charges his mobile thanks to the help of neighbors who lend him batteries and bottles of water.
The shepherd works daily with 135 sheep, 54 goats, 70 lambs and four dogs.
He walks between eight and fourteen hours and when the sun goes down he locks the animals in a metal fence in the open in the old football field of Font del Gos.
“Last week they told me that the awning had not arrived in time for the inauguration but they promised me that they would bring it this week.
Today they tell me next week.
Meanwhile, if it rains the animals are getting wet.
This is not the concept of animal welfare that I understand”, he warns.
He goes out of his way for his cattle and doesn't care about his own comfort, which is why he doesn't denounce the barracks that the Consistory has prepared for him, in which he has thrown a mattress on the floor in case he needs to rest.
Daniel Sánchez regrets that his animals cannot shelter from the sun or the rain
EL PAÍS requested Ferran Pauné, an ecologist and the municipal person in charge of the grazing test, to ask him about the deficiencies of the animal enclosure.
“It is a pilot test that we have put into operation quickly before the summer arrived.
The pastor knew that the awning was missing and suggested we put one up himself.
It did not seem opportune to us and we ordered one from a company and, it is true, it has been delayed more than we had expected”, Pauné admitted yesterday.
Even so, the person in charge of the pilot test assured that since it is a "minor contract" it has had to "improvise" to see how "the test will go".
Pauné downplayed the importance of the inclement weather suffered by cattle and shepherds, considering that this is part of the problems of transhumance.
The Councilor for Climate Emergency and Ecological Transition, Eloi Badia,
Sánchez maintains that there are more deficiencies in the construction of the fence.
“They have only provided me with four feeders, which are the ones needed by 20 sheep, and I have more than 200 animals,” he warns.
Despite this, he maintains that with the amount of grass on the mountain he does not think he needs it.
“The problem is the awnings.
I have two or three lame animals that I cannot put out to graze.
If there is a lot of sun or a lot of rain they have nowhere to shelter.
But in addition, I will have animals that will give birth and I must keep them in a closed place, ”he laments.
The Consistory admits the delay in the placement of the awning in the fence
The municipal pastor of the city has been practicing his profession for six years.
“Three years ago a boss gave me 86 sheep and from then on I made my herd.
I applied for the Town Hall contest and I won it because no one else showed up.
Except for these inconveniences for me it is a great job.
I'm with my animals and they pay me a little, I think that cleaning should cost me 10,000 euros for three or four months.
I'll spend it on a car,” he says.
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