In Argentina, large rodents vie with the wealthy for high actual property

Issued on: 08/31/2021 – 4:36 amChanged: 08/31/2021 – 4:35 am

Buenos Aires (AFP)

Families of a giant rodent from South America have invaded a luxury residential complex in Argentina, highlighting the country’s controversial environmental and social policies.

Nordelta is a 1,600 hectare (3,950 acre) luxury private urban complex on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, in a wetland area of ​​the Parana River, the natural habitat of the capybara.

Many Nordelta residents have complained about water hogs destroying manicured lawns, biting pets and causing traffic accidents.

Also known as the carpincho or chiguire, the capybara is the largest rodent in the world and can grow up to 1.35 meters (53 inches) long and 80 kilograms (176 pounds).

“Nordelta is an exceptionally rich wetland that should never have been touched,” said biologist Sebastian di Martino, nature conservation director of the Rewilding Argentina Foundation, to AFP.

“Now that the damage is done, residents need to achieve some level of coexistence with the carpinchos,” said Di Martino.

Nordelta was built 20 years ago and has houses, offices, a shopping mall, schools, a church, a synagogue and an artificial lake where water birds live.

But since the construction of a clinic began on the last remaining piece of Naturland, many residents have noticed a sudden “invasion” of capybaras.

“Carpinchos were always here. We always saw them from time to time. But three or four months ago the construction workers attacked their last remaining stronghold and the onslaught began,” said Perla Paggi, a resident of the Nordelta and capybara activist AFP.

Nordelta and similar luxury developments in wetlands are also a controversial topic in Argentina.

The large-scale development of the wetland not only eats up the natural habitat of the capybara, but can also mean that the soil can no longer absorb heavy rainfall, which then floods the poorer surrounding areas.

In politically polarized Argentina, Leftists have long attacked the North Delta as an example of elite exploitation and jokingly portrayed the capybara as a hero of the working class.

– lack of predators –

Di Martino says the spread of capybaras is harmful to the environment, but it is also human to blame.

Capybaras are prey for jaguars, pumas, foxes, wild cats, and wild dogs, but all of these animals are virtually extinct in Argentina today.

Aerial view of luxury residential developments built on the wetlands of the Parana River in Argentina MAGALI CERVANTES AFP

“It’s happening across the country, in urbanized and non-urbanized areas. It’s caused by the alteration and destruction of ecosystems. We wiped out a lot of species that were their natural enemies,” Di Martino told AFP.

“The carpincho needs a predator to reduce its population and also to scare it,” said Di Martino.

“If there is a herbivore without a predator threatening it, it won’t hide and can spend all day eating, damaging vegetation that traps less carbon and contributes to climate change.”

In the wild, capybaras live between eight and ten years of age and give birth to litters of up to six young once a year.

Not everyone in the North Delta sees them as a nuisance. In fact, they have become the main attraction of the residential complex.

Drivers slow down to take photos of them, while children come to them for selfies when it gets dark.

Some North Delta residents want to create a nature reserve for the capybaras.

“We have to learn to live next to them, they are not aggressive animals,” said Paggi.

“A 20 to 30 hectare reserve is enough to preserve diversity. They are defenseless animals, we corner them, we rob them of their habitat and now we are complaining because they invade.”

However, Di Martino says a nature reserve won’t change anything.

“It’s complicated, you have to keep them away from children and pets. And then you have to find a way to reduce the population, maybe move it to other places.”

© 2021 AFP