How Peru Saved the Vicuñas by Andre Vieira

Peru, Reserva Nacional Pampa Ga...ph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Reserva Nacional Pampa Galeras Barbara D'Achille, 2022/09/14. A vicuña graze at the Pampa Galeras Barbara D' Achille National Reserve. The nature reserve, which covers 6,500 hectares, is home to an estimated 1,200 vicuñas, collectively owned by the community of Lucanas, which is partially supported by the commercialization of their wool. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Reserva Nacional Pampa Galeras Barbara D'Achille, 2022/09/14. The landscape at the Pampa Galeras Barbara D'Achille National Reserve. The nature reserve, which covers 6,500 hectares, is home to an estimated 1,200 vicuñas, the largest wild population in Peru. The herd is collectively owned by the community of Lucanas, which is partially supported by the commercialization of their wool. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Reserva Nacional Pampa Galeras Barbara D'Achille, 2022/09/14. Miguel Anampo, a specialist with the Peruvian National Service of Protected Areas, and Nyraida Valle, a volunteer at the Pampa Galeras Barbara D'Achille National Reserve, observe a group of male vicuñas grazing. The nature reserve, which covers 6,500 hectares, is home to an estimated 1,200 vicuñas, collectively owned by the community of Lucanas, which is partially supported by the commercialization of their wool. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Reserva Nacional Pampa Galeras Barbara D'Achille, 2022/09/14. A group of male vicuñas graze at the Pampa Galeras Barbara D' Achille National Reserve. The nature reserve, which covers 6,500 hectares, is home to an estimated 1,200 vicuñas, collectively owned by the community of Lucanas, which is partially supported by the commercialization of their wool. Photograph by Andre Vieira. The nature reserve, which covers 6,500 hectares, is home to an estimated 1,200 vicuñas, collectively owned by the community of Lucanas, which is partially supported by the commercialization of their wool. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Reserva Nacional Pampa Galeras Barbara D'Achille, 2022/09/14. A cave painting, believed to have been made by a pre-Inca society, depicts a vicuña at a cave in the Pampa Galeras Barbara D'Achille National Reserve. The nature reserve, which covers 6,500 hectares, is home to an estimated 1,200 vicuñas, the largest wild population in Peru. The herd is collectively owned by the community of Lucanas, which is partially supported by the commercialization of their wool. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Reserva Nacional Pampa Galeras Barbara D'Achille, 2022/09/14. Hernán Adolfo Sosoya is the longest-serving park ranger at the Pampa Galeras Barbara D'Achille National Reserve, where he has been working for 27 years. The nature reserve, which covers 6,500 hectares, is home to an estimated 1,200 vicuñas, the largest wild population in Peru. The herd is collectively owned by the community of Lucanas, which is partially supported by the commercialization of their wool. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Lucanas, 2022/09/12. Dama...ph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Lucanas, 2022/09/12. Damares Taipe recently started a job sorting and cleaning vicuña fiber at a workshop operated by the company Almar. The work at the workshop is done exclusively by local women. The community of Lucanas pioneered the conservation process that led to the recovery of the populations of vicuñas in Peru, which were hunted almost to extinction. In the 1970s the camelid population numbered no more than 3,000 animals. Today their numbers are estimated to be around 300,000. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

The village of Lucanas, which c...ph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

The village of Lucanas, which calls itself the Peruvian capital of the vicuñas, a wild camelid related to the llamas and alpacas. The community of Lucanas pioneered the conservation process that led to the recovery of the populations of vicuñas in Peru, which were hunted almost to extinction. In the 1970s the camelid population numbered no more than 3,000 animals. Today their numbers are estimated to be around 300,000. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Lucanas, 2022/09/12. Loca...ph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Lucanas, 2022/09/12. Local women sort and clean vicuña fiber at a workshop operated by the company Almar. The community of Lucanas pioneered the conservation process that led to the recovery of the populations of vicuñas in Peru, which were hunted almost to extinction. In the 1970s the camelid population numbered no more than 3,000 animals. Today their numbers are estimated to be around 300,000. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Lucanas, 2022/09/12. Mart...ph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Lucanas, 2022/09/12. Marta Rojas de Galvan (left) and Julia Velasque hold balls of vicuña fiber ready to be shipped to exporters. They were sorted and cleaned at the workshop they operate for the company Almar. The work at the workshop is done exclusively by local women. The community of Lucanas pioneered the conservation process that led to the recovery of the populations of vicuñas in Peru, which were hunted almost to extinction. In the 1970s the camelid population numbered no more than 3,000 animals. Today their numbers are estimated to be around 300,000. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Lucanas, 2022/09/12. Local women sort and clean vicuña fiber at a workshop operated by the company Almar. The community of Lucanas pioneered the conservation process that led to the recovery of the populations of vicuñas in Peru, which were hunted almost to extinction. In the 1970s the camelid population numbered no more than 3,000 animals. Today their numbers are estimated to be around 300,000. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Lucanas, 2022/09/12. A st...ph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Lucanas, 2022/09/12. A storage room is filled with bags containing balls of vicuña fiber ready to be shipped to exporters, after being sorted and cleaned at a workshop operated by the company Almar, a job done exclusively by women. The community of Lucanas pioneered the conservation process that led to the recovery of the populations of vicuñas in Peru, which were hunted almost to extinction. In the 1970s the camelid population numbered no more than 3,000 animals. Today their numbers are estimated to be around 300,000. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Lucanas, 2022/09/13. A sq...ph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Lucanas, 2022/09/13. A square at the center of the village of Lucanas, which calls itself the Peruvian capital of the vicuñas, a wild camelid related to the llamas and alpacas. The community of Lucanas pioneered the conservation process that led to the recovery of the populations of vicuñas in Peru, which were hunted almost to extinction. In the 1970s the camelid population numbered no more than 3,000 animals. Today their numbers are estimated to be around 300,000. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Lucanas, 2022/09/13. The ...ph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Lucanas, 2022/09/13. The village of Lucanas, which calls itself the Peruvian capital of the vicuñas, a wild camelid related to the llamas and alpacas. The community of Lucanas pioneered the conservation process that led to the recovery of the populations of vicuñas in Peru, which were hunted almost to extinction. In the 1970s the camelid population numbered no more than 3,000 animals. Today their numbers are estimated to be around 300,000. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Reserva Nacional Pampa Galeras Barbara D'Achille, 2022/09/14. Dusk settles over the Pampa Galeras Barbara D'Achille National Reserve. The nature reserve, which covers 6,500 hectares, is home to an estimated 1,200 vicuñas, the largest wild population in Peru. The herd is collectively owned by the community of Lucanas, which is partially supported by the commercialization of their wool. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Peru, Reserva Nacional Pampa Galeras Barbara D'Achille, 2022/09/14. Dusk settles over the visitors center at the Pampa Galeras Barbara D'Achille National Reserve. The nature reserve, which covers 6,500 hectares, is home to an estimated 1,200 vicuñas, the largest wild population in Peru. The herd is collectively owned by the community of Lucanas, which is partially supported by the commercialization of their wool. Photograph by Andre Vieira Lucanas Peru

Vicuñas, a wild camelid related to llamas and alpacas, produces the finest fiber in the world, used to make garments that sell for thousands of Euros in European capitals. In the 1970s they were hunted nearly to extinction. Their populations dropped to an estimated 3,000 animals in Peru.
After conservationists devised a way to shear their wool without killing the animals, and involved communities in the effort to preserve them and manage their herds, populations made an extraordinary recovery. The recovery process of the vicuñas was started by a group of German researchers at the Pampa Galeras Barbara D' Achille National Reserve, in the Ayacucho province, which has an extension of 6,500 hectares.
Today it’s estimated that there’re 300,000 vicunãs living in the plains of the Peruvian Altiplano, most collectively owned by native communities descendent from the Incas. The commercialization of their fiber is a vital resource for many communities, and the animal plays an important role in their culture.
In recent years the export of the fiber has been concentrated in the hands of a small number of companies, which have been pushing prices down to a point that in many areas the costs of caring for the animal and processing the fiber are higher than the returns. This is putting the successful recovery effort of the vicuñas populations at risk.

Andre Vieira

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