Word: spain
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...looked to be a good year in Carpio. Throughout central Spain, a mild winter had protected sprouting plants from frostbite while cool summer temperatures had kept roots from scorching under the Castillian sun, and this farming town, located two hours northwest of Madrid, expected an abundant crop. But then came the voles. By harvest time in late August, Margarita Alonso's hope had turned to despair. "Look at this!" she exclaimed disgustedly as she discarded gnawed potatoes from atop the family combine. "They've eaten half the crop...
...regulations - add the humble mountain vole. Few worried when the furry rodents first appeared on the plains of Castilla-León last fall. But by summer, a curious nuisance had become a devastating plague. These days, an estimated 750 million voles are marauding their way through central Spain's alfalfa, beets, potatoes and even vineyards. According to figures released by the regional government at the start of August, they have ravaged some 260,000 hectares (more than 1,000 sq. mi.) and caused at least 30 million euros worth of damage. And no one knows exactly how to stop...
Traditionally, Castilla-León is Spain's breadbasket, its dry flatlands covered with wheat, barley and other grains that require little water. But in recent decades, farmers have begun switching to more profitable irrigated crops, unwittingly creating an alluring new habitat for the vole. "Since the late 1980s we have seen occasional cycles in which large numbers of voles, drawn by these new food sources, have appeared in the northern part of Castilla-León," says biologist Juan José Luque, a rodent specialist at the University of Valladolid. "What's extraordinary this year is that, instead...
PAMPLONA, SPAIN State-run TV ends live coverage of bullfighting...
...entertainments. But Sunday afternoons have hardly been cleansed of blood and sand, and bullfighting's departure from public television may even be temporary: the government's proposed new media law would require networks and producers to include programming that "promotes national identity." The question now is just how bullish Spain's identity remains...