Przewalski’s horses released inside a protected park in Spain for the first time

 

A landmark release

In a milestone for rewilding in Spain, a herd of six Przewalski’s horses – the world’s last truly wild horse – has been released in the Alto Tajo Natural Park, located within the Iberian Highlands rewilding landscape. The release inside a national park is a landmark step. While Rewilding Spain have introduced Przewalski’s horses at other sites within the landscape since 2023, this is the first time natural grazing has been actively enhanced within a protected area of the Iberian Highlands.

As the horses roam across an area of deep canyons, sweeping pine forests, and some of the wildest terrain in Spain, their mission is as simple as it is transformative: to bring back the natural grazing that once shaped the ecosystem here — opening up habitats, enhancing biodiversity, and reducing the risk of damaging wildfire outbreaks.

These horses are no ordinary newcomers. Przewalski’s horses are iconic, tough, resilient animals whose natural behaviour and grazing patterns help shape healthier, more dynamic landscapes. With a total global population only numbering around 2,000 individuals, their release inside the park helps secure the future of this endangered subspecies.

 

 

Room to thrive

The Prezwalski’s horses have been released on the La Campana Estate, in the village of Checa. This 1,000-hectare property — acquired by the regional government last year for conservation and research — offers everything they need to thrive: open pastures, shady pine woods, and space to move freely.

Their arrival is the result of a new collaboration between Rewilding Spain and the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha, following months of careful observation and testing with other horses to confirm the suitability of the habitat. The animals travelled from France with the support of the TAKH Association, which specialises in Przewalski’s horse conservation and is a member of Rewilding Europe’s European Rewilding Network.

 

 

Shaping a wilder landscape

The Przewalski’s herd — four females, a young male, and an adult stallion — is now being monitored via GPS, which will give the Rewilding Spain team a better understanding of how these wild horses move, graze, and shape their surroundings. The team have helped upgrade infrastructure on the La Campana Estate and will continue to study the impact of the animals on the local landscape.

“This collaboration with the Castilla-La Mancha government opens the door to exciting new possibilities,” says Pablo Schapira, team leader at Rewilding Spain. “It allows us to support the park’s conservation goals while improving habitats within a protected area of extraordinary ecological value.”

La Campana estate itself is a treasure trove of biodiversity: mountain pine forests with lime, ash, holly and yew trees; soaring griffon and Egyptian vultures and golden eagles; and a community of wild herbivores including Iberian ibex, wild boar, fallow deer, red deer, and roe deer. The return of large natural grazers such as the Przewalski’s horse brings this ecosystem one step closer to a wilder future.

 

 

Why Przewalski’s horses?

Beyond their positive ecological impact, bringing Przewalski’s horses to the Alto Tajo Natural Park is a unique opportunity to join collaborative efforts to conserve the species, which is in serious danger of extinction. In addition, these rare and charismatic animals will help to attract tourists and wildlife enthusiasts, raising the profile of the area and the entire landscape and providing a much-needed economic boost. Rewilding Spain will be working with local entrepreneurs and small businesses to help them create new tourism opportunities linked to wildlife watching and rewilding — something that is already happening in other areas of the Iberian Highlands landscape.

The Iberian Peninsula was once roamed by wild horses with very similar physical features to Przewalski’s horses, as evidenced by engravings and cave paintings, such as those in Altamira. However, these disappeared around 4000 years ago. With livestock numbers in the Iberian Highlands landscape significantly diminished, the Przewalski’s horses will fulfill the same ecological role as the extinct Iberian wild horse and more contemporary domesticated herbivores. Rewilding Spain is already working with various Spanish breeds of semi-wild horses in other parts of the Iberian Highlands, and has also released herds of Tauros to strengthen natural grazing.

 

 

Invaluable support

Rewilding Europe’s work in our rewilding landscapes is supported by a wide range of highly valued partners. We would like to thank all our financial partners, in particular those providing core funding – notably the Dutch Postcode Lottery, Ecological Restoration Fund, Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme, Cartier for Nature, Oak Foundation, EnviroSustain, WWF-Netherlands, and Arcadia. Their longstanding support plays a critical role in enabling us to deliver and scale up rewilding impact.

 

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