Anyone who has climbed Collserola has become accustomed to the wild boars, which roam freely in the Parc Natural, or the sheep o the donkeys one more neighbor.
But two weeks ago Ivan Villarejo and Alejandro Corral (@ivanvillarejo_photography and @alejandrocorral.photography), two nature photographers, discovered a new animal while checking their cameras. They had left a photo-parameter camera, a fixed camera, all March near Sant Cugat. The images obviously showed wild boars, but also genets, badgers, foxes… nothing new until, all of a sudden, a new mountain neighbor appeared: the roe deer.
For the two photographers it was a special moment but also the confirmation of a trend: the roe deer, an animal until not long ago rare in the Zone, is now a common species, with a population of about 50 that has settled in Collserola.
An elusive new neighbor
The Generalitat and the hunters’ collective reintroduced roe deer 30 years ago in Catalonia and for the last 15 years it has been common to see them in periurban areas such as Les Planes or Valldoreix. Currently, according to the Department of Climate Action of the Generalitat, there are between 30 and 50 roe deer living in the Collserola mountain.
However, they are difficult to see, as they are skittish animals, although Sean Cahill, a biologist at the Collserola Natural Park, explains in a Betevé report that to locate them one can be helped by the characteristic cry they make, because they bark almost like a dog.
The growth of these animals has its counterpart. The same report explains that farmers in areas where there are high densities of roe deer, such as in Central Catalonia, report that they eat their crops and break the electric wires they use to graze their cows in the forest.
In addition, another consequence that can also be experienced in Collserola is that of traffic accidents since, unlike wild boars, roe deer stay still when they are surprised by a car.