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Vicunas making a comeback in Peru

Hundreds of villagers march side by side along the wind-blasted Andean plain, closing in on their prey: herds of nervous, fast-moving vicunas, the smaller, wilder cousins of llamas and alpacas.

Chanting and shaking a rope with colorful streamers, they encircle the shaggy-coated animals and push them into a corral in a ritual that was known to the ancient Inca, but nearly abandoned in the 20th century. Dancers gyrate, making tinny sounds by clapping unscrewed scissors.

For decades, poachers seeking the world's most valuable wool simply shot vicunas rather than struggle to trap the elusive animals that can run 50kph, and by 1964 their numbers had dwindled to just 12,000.

Today, these vicunas are captured, shorn and released once a year in Peru's national chaccu, a roundup that is both a renewed expression of indigenous culture and a triumph for an international campaign to save the previously endangered animals. Community members conduct smaller-scale chaccus throughout the May to September dry season, but the national chaccu is coupled with a three-day cultural festival.

"The vicunas are no longer in danger of extinction, and we are protecting them and reinforcing their presence," said Wilder Trejo, president of the National Council of South American Camelids.

Hundreds of thousands of the animals once ranged throughout the Andes mountains from Ecuador to Argentina. They were considered sacred by the Inca Empire, which fell after the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in 1532.

Famed for its smoothness, warmth and light weight, the vicuna wool is untangled and sold by the Lucanas peasant community to exporters for US$625 a kilogram, said Miguel Penafiel, president of the hilly community in Ayacucho state, 410km southeast of Lima.

While market prices vary, vicuna fiber is the most expensive wool in the world, far more pricey than cashmere, which sells for US$70 a kilogram.

For centuries, hunters killed the elusive animal for its wool and leather rather than shear it live.
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