Nordelta, Argentina – Luciano Sampietro lifted a 3 -foot aluminum tube to his lips and blew, sending a cerbatan dart mixed with sedatives, muscle relaxants and analgesics towards the largest rodent in the world, which rested near an artificial pond. The objective of the veterinarian, an alpha male cap of about 50 kilos, received an impact on the rear leg. Sampietro shot again and wounded a female. In 15 minutes, workers dressed in the cinnamon color uniforms of the Safari guides picked up the sleeping patients. But it was too late: the female was already pregnant. So they injected the male a drug designed to prevent them from continuing to pregnant them. Yes, in the rich neighborhoods of Buenos Aires they are sterilizing the carpichos. Autos waiting for the carpinchos to cross a street in Nordelta. Photo of Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York Times. They have catapulted the top of the unofficial classifications of adorable animals thanks to innumerable videos that show them quiet, plump and happy to get carried away by monkeys and ducks. His image adorns backpacks and stuffedheads, and in Tokyo, tourists pay exorbitant prices to feed them with carrots in the cafes specialized in capibaras. But for some people in a corner of their homeland, the adorable capibara has become a threat. Nordelta, an elegant and picturesque private community of 45,000 inhabitants north of Buenos Aires. When the residents took refuge in their homes in 2020, the carpinchos began to colonize neighborhood care, finding green grass, fresh water and without predators, according to biologists hired by the community. Biologists estimate that in the last two years the population of Capinchos de Nordelta has tripled until reaching almost 1,000 copies, which is a complicated test for the urban coexistence of Human beings and wildlife. Luciano Sampietro with the Cerbatana that uses to sedate the capibaras before sterilizing them. Photo of Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York Times. A visit last month, families of Carpinchos grazed near the tennis courts, slept on the volleyball courts and splaced in the artificial lagoons. Just after a sign that warned of the Crossing of Carpinchos, a family crossed the street in the Indian Row, illuminated by the front headlights. Sure, most residents admitted that the capibaras are adorable. But they also cause traffic accidents, they devour the gardens and, sometimes, they have attacked some of the smallest dogs in the community. “It is a wild animal against a domestic dog. That is, it is totally different,” said Sampietro, the veterinarian hired to help control the population of Capibaras. “I have had to do necropsy to Capibaras and it is difficult to cut the skin with a knife.” Quejas and DefensoresPablo Pefaure, one of Nordelta’s 26 neighborhood representatives, commented that their neighbors frequently complain about amphibious rodents. “They consider them dangerous, they consider them invaders and fear for their young children,” he said. A family of carpinchos with young near an artificial lake in Nordelta, he said that sometimes the capibaras have followed their miniature Schnauzer, Grumete. “I don’t leave it alone in the garden because I don’t know what could happen,” said neighbor, Verónica Esposito, who was sitting close, did not agree. A carpincho swimming in one of Nordelta’s artificial water masses. Photo by Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York Times. “No carpincho has ever approached my dogs,” he said. «Everyone says they eat plants. Yes, they do. But the plants grow again, ”he added. “I do not see the problem.” They have protested in the streets, undertaken legal actions against real estate promoters and gathered 25,000 signatures for an online petition to protect animals. They have also attracted 34,000 followers to an Instagram page where their neighbors are sometimes shame, including one who used a whip to scare away the capibaras of his dock. A group of rodents giving a sand bath on a volleyball track. Photo of Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York Times. “I think her tenderness is a strategy of the species to survive,” said Silvia Soto, the most outgoing neighbor. “His tenderness has conquered us, and we fight for them.” Until now, the fight has not worked. Last year, the Argentine National Government began an experiment to perform three -carpinchos vasectomies in Nordelta, hoping to analyze how this affected the social position of males in their herds. If succeed, the practice could be extended. Different teacher in February, the Nordelta organization informed the residents in an email that was advancing with a different plan: a “contraceptive vaccination program”, approved by the local government, to sterilize 250 adult carpins. sperm and inhibits ovulation. It requires two injections with several months of difference, but its effect could last only a few months, which means they could have to continue reassuring the capibaras repeatedly. Silvia Soto, a member of a group of pro-capital neighbors. Photo of Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York Times. They are not sure how much sterilization lasts because the medicine – improvac, manufactured by Zoetis, a pharmacist from New Jersey – has not been used in Capibaras. It is designed to alter pig hormones before sacrifice so that the meat has a better flavor. “Only for use in male pigs,” says Zoetis in his legal notice about the medicine. Ensayosen 2019, Nordelta sprayed his grass with the aroma of a carnivore, which scared away many capibaras. However, Falguera said that efficacy decreased over time, since Nordelta’s capibaras moved away from their usual predators. In Buenos Aires, articles with the theme of carpinchos are sold, such as stuffed animals, erasing tires and backpacks. Photo of Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York Times. Then, the community opted for injections, which according to her are better than castration or vasectomy because it is less likely that they alter the behavior of rodents and the dynamics of the group. Argentina, Eduardo Constantini, entrepreneur and real estate promoter whose company controls the Nordelta organization. His spokesman did not respond to comments requests. For the defenders of the carpincho, intervene in the reproduction of animals is an escalation of Nordelta’s attack on the species. Thirty years ago, Nordelta was a virtually virgin wetland where the carpinchos wandered freely Pumas, Jaguares, Caimanes and Sports Hunters. At the end of the 90s, Constantini began transforming the area with roads, ponds, mansions, condominium towers, a shopping center and a golf course designed by American golfer Jack Nicklaus. The construction has been almost uninterrupted – with 17 more buildings in progress – and is now the home of some of the richest people in Argentina. Thirty years ago, Nordelta was a virgin wetland where the carpins camp their wide. Since then it has become the home of some of the richest people in Argentina. Photo of Anita Pouchard Serra for The New York Times. Soto argued that the population of Capibaras is only increasing because developers destroyed the wild habitat of the animals, forcing them to get out of the forest and move to the suburbs. “In a matter of hours they sweep a forest,” Soto said. “What happened to the fauna? Have you died? Have you been displaced?” Your group presses to be given to the carpincho his own nature reserve, but there seems to be little interest on the part of Nordelta’s promoters. “I don’t understand how they only think of vasectomy and sterilization,” he said. Videoel Nordelta development over the years. Google Earthel marriage agreed that it was necessary to control the population of carpinchos in some way, but did not coincide in the causes of the problem. “It is a wild animal that came to live in the city,” he said. “No, the city came to settle where the wild animal was,” he said. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
