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ENVIRONMENT-ARGENTINA:
Hunting Out of
Control
Marcela Valente*
BUENOS AIRES, (Tierramérica) -
Argentina has become a magnet in
recent years for sports hunters
-- foreign and local -- not only
because of the relatively
inexpensive access to a broad
variety and quantity of animals,
but also because of the lack of
effective regulations to protect
the hunted species.
The head of wildlife monitoring
at the National Wildlife
Directorate, Marcelo Silva
Croome, told Tierramérica that
since 2002 he has seen a big
increase in hunting tourism from
abroad, and admitted that it has
proved ”very difficult” to
prevent abuses.
The rise in hunters coming from
the United States and Europe is
evident in the data gathered by
the Aeronautical Police, which
tracks entry of weapons into
Argentina carried by people
travelling by plane. There has
also been an increase in hunting
trophy export permit requests.
An estimated 7,000 foreign
hunters come to Argentina each
year. In addition are the
unknown numbers of local sports
hunters and even poachers who
pursue their prey for commercial
reasons, or for survival, in all
provinces of the country.
Silva explains that Argentina's
federal system means that each
province has jurisdiction over
its hunting reserves and
wildlife, making national
regulation of hunting very
difficult. ”From the Wildlife
Directorate we can only regulate
which species may be hunted or
not,” and punish the violations
that are detected, he said.
”It's impossible to prevent
hunting of protected species,”
said the official.
”In some cases -- for example
the collared and white-lipped
peccaries (Pecari tajacu and
Tayassu pecari, both pig-like
species on the list of the
Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora) -- we
established a very limited
(hunting) quota nationally, but
there are provinces that don't
enforce it, and we can only
apply sanctions if the hunter
tries to take the trophy out of
those provinces,” Silva said.
These sanctions consist of
seizing the animal carcasses and
slapping the hunter with a fine.
The lack of interest in
protecting wildlife and the lack
of power on the part of
authorities are utilised by
tourism operators to attract
visitors, promising tailor-made
trips for hunting various kinds
of animals, as well as enjoying
beautiful landscapes and
delicious local foods.
”Thanks to its extensive
geography and the diversity of
native species, Argentina is
recognised around the world as a
hunter's paradise,” says the
Argentine tourism agency Big
Hunting in its advertisements.
”All of the prodigious wildlife
of this South American country
awaits the foreign hunter.”
The company offers weekend
packages that cost 700 to 2,250
dollars to hunt red deer (Cervus
elaphus), European wild pigs (Sus
scrofa) or blackbuck (Antilope
cervicapra), and other packages
with prices ranging from 3,550
to 7,450 dollars for a week of
hunting with a guide and a
guarantee of coming away with up
to seven animals.
Safari Travels also talks about
the country as a ”hunting
paradise.” ”Because of its
climate, topography and size,
Argentina permits hunting of the
most varied species year round,”
says the agency, promising that
the hunter's expectations will
be surpassed by the number of
prey for hunting each day of the
trip.
Fallow deer (Dama dama), chital
deer (Axis axis) and red deer,
puma (Felis concolor),
blackbuck, peccaries, wild pigs,
buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) are
some of the species offered to
those who love big game hunting.
This agency also offers for
smaller game the choice amongst
different types of ducks,
partridges, doves, vizcacha (a
burrowing rodent similar to a
chinchilla), hares and foxes.
Officials representing
Argentina's wildlife agencies
and representatives of
environmental organisations
alike recognise that this
country has a long tradition of
sports hunting, but they point
out that after the economic
crisis of 2002, the devaluation
of the Argentine peso made the
country much more attractive to
foreign visitors.
”Compared to what they charge in
other countries, Argentina
offers low rates and
accommodations, but also here
the regulations are precarious
or nonexistent,” Claudio
Bertonatti, coordinator of the
environmental education division
of the Fundación Vida Silvestre
(Wildlife Foundation), told
Tierramérica.
The inspections that the state
should be conducting is
delegated to the guide or to the
tourism operator, who tend not
to obey the regulations, and
furthermore the existing laws
are not effective, because they
set arbitrary quotas for hunting
the different species, not based
on animal census information, he
said.
Argentina has an abundance of
autochthonous fauna, but also a
wide range of exotic animals,
whose populations sometimes
expand to the detriment of
native species. That occurs, for
example, with the red deer,
introduced more than a century
ago, and which gradually has
displaced the native huemul (Hippocamelus
bisulcus), or South Andean deer.
”The problem is that they hunt
too many animals per day of the
permitted species, and
sometimes, in some hunting
reserves, they also promote
taking otherwise protected
autochthonous species like the
marsh deer (Blastocerus
dichotomus), the huemul, or the
Pampas deer (Ozotoceros
bezoarticus),” said Bertonatti.
Fundación Vida Silvestre accepts
sports hunting as long as it is
done in a sustainable way,
respecting the species, the
quotas and the hunting season
for each type of animal, with
the appropriate permits and in
authorised areas.
It also calls on everyone
involved in hunting activities
to act responsibly to prevent
the decline in resources. In
that sense, Bertonatti was very
critical of the tourism
companies that do not reinvest
in studies of the natural
resources their clients exploit.
”They boast that they're an
industry without chimneys, that
doesn't pollute, but they leave
behind a footprint even bigger
than that of a mammoth,” the
activist said with a note of
irony, adding that many of the
hunting guides don't even know
how to identify the species they
are prohibited from hunting.
”The hunter shoots at everything
that moves, and the guide
applauds,” Bertonatti concluded.
(* Marcela Valente is an IPS
correspondent. Originally
published Jul. 30 by Latin
American newspapers that are
part of the Tierramérica
network. Tierramérica is a
specialised news service
produced by IPS with the backing
of the United Nations
Development Programme and the
United Nations Environment
Programme.)
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