Human-Predator Conflicts in Northwestern Argentina, the Particular Case of the Andean Condor

GRANDE, J. M.; SALOM, A.; DESTEFANO, C.; SUÁREZ, M. E.; VARGAS, F. H.

Fort Collins

Congreso; Raptor Research Foundation Annual Conference 2019; 2019

Human-predator conflicts are complex to solve as scientific, economic, moral and cultural perspectives confront. Cattle breeders traditionally blamed Andean Condors (Vultur gryphus) for killing newborn sheep and calves. However, scientific knowledge affirms that Andean Condors are scavengers, as their tarsi are not powerful enough to kill. This assertion is repeated by environmental authorities and general information sources. Only some reviews mention that they may kill newborn mammals. To assess human-predator conflicts in the tropical forests of the Yungas of Jujuy and Salta provinces, northwestern Argentina, we performed 115 interviews to a variety of local settlers from park rangers to cattle breeders. We asked them if they had conflict with any species of wildlife or knew other people that could have it. We conducted 55 raptor point counts to evaluate raptor abundance in the area. We identified 2172 raptors of 26 species. The Andean Condor was the fourth most abundant raptor accounting for almost 11% of identified birds. The most cited conflictive species was the Andean Condor (32%), even above Cougar (Puma concolor)(27%) and Jaguar (Panthera onca)(16.5%). Almost 50% of interviewed said Condors kill calves although not all mentioned it to be a conflict. They said Condors jumped on and pushed calves to the ground where they would peck them to death. According to them, Condors would also kill adult cows by scaring and making them fall from cliffs. We collected some believable reports of the first described behaviour and there are similar findings in Ecuador. Our data suggest the existence of a strong conflict surrounding the Condor in northern Argentina. The species slow demography and wide action range make it highly vulnerable to human persecution. Therefore, instead of denying Condor attacks, a serious reassessment of this conflict in the area would be needed to secure the species conservation.