The Environmental Crime Crisis

The effect of roads, expanding agriculture and livestock, along with increased poaching can also be observed in South America, such as on the wild camelids in the steppe, deserts and Andean foothills of Argentina and Chile. Guanacos ( Lama guanicoe ) and vicunãs ( Vicugna vicugna ) have lost 40–75 per cent of their ranges, and probably dropped at least 90 per cent in their numbers over the last centuries (Cajal, 1991; Franklin et al. , 1997). Only a fraction, probably less than 3 per cent of the guanaco and some 34 per cent of that of vicunãs are in protected areas (Donadio and Buskirk, 2006). Also these species often avoid areas with expanding livestock and have been heavily exposed to poaching. Source: Cajal, J. L. 1991. An integrated approach to the management of wild camelidsin Argentina. In Mares, M. A. &Schmidly, D. J. (eds.), Latin American Mammology.History, Biodiversity and Conservation.University of Oklahoma Press, Norman; Donadio, E. &Buskirk, S. W. 2006. Flight behavior of guanacos and vicunas in areas of western Argentina with and without poaching.Biological Conservation 127: 139-145Franklin, W. L., Bas, F., Bonacic, C. F., Cunazza, C. & Soto N. 1997. Striving to manage Patagonia guanacos for sustained use in the grazing agroecosystems of southern Chile. Wildlife Soc. Bull.25: 65–73

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