The Patagonian huemul, a cervid in the southern Andes mountains

SMITH-FLUECK, JM; FLUCK, WT

Prag, Czech Republic

Congreso; 6th international Deer Biology Congress; 2006

Research Institute of Animal Production, Praha, Czech Republic

The Patagonian huemul is a cervid endemic to southern Chile and Argentina.Overhunting with the European colonization  may have reduced huemul such that it was given total protection in Chile (1929) and Argentina started a captive breeding program ‘to prevent extinction’ (1934). Field work startedrecently and knowledge about the species is very limited as an ISI search showed 11 original studies between 1945-2006. Today there  are >100 isolatedfragments, totaling 1000-1500 individuals, spread between 36 and 54̊S. Due toa limited number of professional working with huemul, a lack of consensus has sofar prevented more direct approaches, like aerial counts, or a conservation centerwith semi-captive huemul, even with long-term financing available. It would allowstudies in the center and through re-introductions. Thus, in Argentina  no singlepopulation has ever been censussed and there are no indications with respect topopulation tendencies, and due to lack of studies directly on huemul, there is noknowledge on factors preventing the recovery of any population, but many sub-populations have disappeared in the last several decades even in National parks.Unfortunately, several decision makers claim that Argentine huemul have not yetreached a critical population size justifying implementation of ex-situ programs, ascurrent in-situ efforts are supposedly sufficient to guarantee long-term survival ofhuemul. To introduce changes in current dogmatic views requires that the predicamentof the maybe 1,500 remaining huemul be discussed beyond the national level.      There are 3,000 black rhinos left? and considered at Critical Risk?      There are 9,000 white rhinos left?      There are 3,000 West Indian manatee left in Florida?       There are 3,000 Giant Panda left in wild? (BBC News June 2006)So why is there so little interest in huemul? lack of publicity?