Ethnozoology and sustainable use of wild vicuñas by local communities in the Andes

BIBIANA VILÁ

Bhumgtan

Congreso; 14th International Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology; 2014

ISE: International Society of Ethnobiology

Ethnozoology and sustainable use of wild vicunas by local communities in the Andes Dra Bibiana Vilá VICAM (Vicuñas, Camelidos y Ambiente). CONICET (National Research Council). Univ de Lujan, ruta 5y 7, Lujan (CP 6700) Buenos Aires, Argentina. 0054-2323-488823 bibianavila@gmail.com The vicuña (Vicugna vicugna), is a wild South American camelid, that live in Andean high-altitude steppes (Puna or Altiplano) in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Perú. Vicuñas share the habitat with llamas and sheep herders in their grazing areas. These peasants value the vicuñas as part of the natural deities as the livestock of Pachamama, Mother Earth. Vicuñas´ ultra fine fiber is highly prized and has caused its risk of extinction in the 1960s by western overhunting. After decades of national and international conservation, and especially local people defense, some vicuñas populations have recovered and now there are several management plans in the different countries. Although the altiplano economy thrived during Inca times, at present it is one of the poorest regions in South America. Climatic and management factors such as altitude, harsh weather conditions, destructive frosts, soil erosion, pasture reduction due to overgrazing, scarcity of water, and periodic droughts reduce the possibility of agriculture and limit economic activities. We work in a joint activity between scientist and local communities recreating the ancient Chaku with modern animal welfare ideas. The chaku was the technique that Incas used for capture, shear and release back, their vicuñas, to nature. The capture is based on people walking by foot with ropes with colored strings chasing vicuñas to a net funnel that finish in a corral. Vicuñas are shorn and marked with a collar and then, release. It is absolutely essential for develop a chaku to have a deep relationship between people and vicuñas. This presentation shows how this bonding is growing in the environmental education and the plans for sustainable use of wild vicuñas in local communities. The role of the ethozoology research is fundamental for finding the feelings and values from local people for this wild species. We are working towards a multiespecific production area (pastoralism and wild herbivores sustainable use) in the high altitude grasslands. The role of vicuñas in the local cosmovision is diverse because it is a grazer of the few pastures people need for their livestock. Vicuñas is a rare example as it is one of the few ungulates coming back from extinction, and the local perceptions about this wild species is an essential issue to understand this challenging possibility of using an alternative source of income for the poor aboriginal peasant communities, thus alleviating poverty. The ethnozoology is the soul of this project.