Photo: Agustín Marcarian/Reuters.
Capybaras eat the grass in the gated community of the Nordelta, north of Buenos Aires.
Can there be such a thing as too many capybaras? Five-year-old Suzanne visiting Disney World back in the day would have said no. Now she’s grown up with children of her own, but she was still pretty excited to see capybaras wandering around Columbia last week. (Columbia seems to be a new destination for school vacations. John’s family went last year and Suzanne’s this year.)
Meanwhile in Argentina, capybaras are considered too much of a good thing, especially in wealthy neighborhoods.
Harriet Barber reports for the Guardian, “A contraception debate is gripping one of Argentina’s most notable luxury neighborhoods – not for its wealthy residents, but for its original occupants, the capybaras.
“In recent years, the lovable rodents have been accused of overrunning the Nordelta, a meticulously landscaped and manicured suburb north of Buenos Aires.
“Now, in a bid to quell reproduction – some accounts suggest the number of capybaras has tripled to more than 1,000 in the past three years – the Buenos Aires government has approved wildlife population control plans, involving selective sterilization and contraceptives.
“Marcelo Cantón, a resident and spokesperson for the Nordelta Neighborhood Association, says that while capybaras themselves are not a problem, the ‘excessive growth’ of their populations is, adding that it is causing the creatures to ‘fight among themselves, fight with dogs in private gardens,’ leading to traffic accidents. …
“According to El País, the new plans would see two doses of contraceptives injected into 250 of the rodents … which authorities hope will stem reproduction for up to a year.
“But not all neighbors are in agreement. The Nordelta sits within the Paraná Delta, an environmentally important wetland home to dense flora, an abundance of birds and dozens of species of mammals.
“Silvia Soto and a group of neighbors known as ‘Nordelta Capybaras – We Are Your Voice’ say the plans should be halted, dispute that there is an overpopulation problem and criticize property developers for ignoring proposals to create biological corridors and protected areas.
“ ‘For years, we have been asking for different, linked green areas that function as natural reserves connected by biological corridors, to protect the capybaras and preserve their survival and coexistence in their own natural space,’ Soto said. … Environmentalists are also now weighing in and calling on the government to protect the capybaras, which are the world’s largest rodent.”
More at the Guardian, here.
I don’t know what’s best for Buenos Aires, but I’ve often wondered if there weren’t some way to use contraception for the deer populations that have burgeoned in urban and suburban America, spreading tick diseases. What do you think?
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