Poachers Are Killing Andean Camels for Their Wool
Poachers Are Killing Andean Camels for Their Wool
To meet a growing demand for vicuña wool in Europe and Asia, gangs are massacring herds of the animals in South America
As the price of their wool rises, vicuñas, like the one picture here near the ALMA telescope in Chile, faces threats from poaching gangs. ( Alessandro Caproni/Flickr CC BY 2.0)
By Helen Thompson
smithsonian.com
June 23, 2015 9:30AM
In May, Peruvian authorities found 150 vicuña carcasses outside a village called Espite in the Andes, Chris Kraul reports for the Los Angeles Times.
Vicuñas (Vicugna vicugna) are wild South American relatives of camels and possibly the wild ancestor to domesticated alpacas. Inca rulers prized their soft, warm wool, and today coats made from vicuna wool can go for as much as US$21,000 and suits for US$46,000, as Dave Coggins wrote for the Wall Street Journal in 2013. Only silk seems to rival vicuña wool. But, this growing popularity is becoming a serious threat to wild populations and any humans trying to protect them.
Herders in villages like Espite make their living off of rounding up and sheering vicuñas, explains Kraul. The modern governments of Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina have essentially modernized the Inca system of harvesting vicuna fur. The governments own the animals and grant permission to indigenous family groups to herd them.
However, high demand for vicuña garments in Europe and Asia has driven the price of vicuña wool up to near $1000 per 2.2 pounds (or one kilogram). Generating that much wool requires sheering five animals, writes Kraul. Traditional herders sheer the animals every two years, and each animal produces around 200 grams or 7 ounces of wool. Usually, herding families pull in about 44 pounds per year or about $20,000 annually.
Read more:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/poachers-are-killing-andean-camels-180955674/#0B9jLhbzxHdBkmaF.99
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