THE GALLOPING 'FIREFIGHTERS'

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

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.

By helping prevent fire, wild horses play a key role in preserving the northwestern region of Galicia's delicate ecosystems, scientists say. But Europe's largest herd of wild horses has dwindled to less than half the 22,000 that roamed its mountains, forests and heathlands in the 1970s.