Thanks to the Disney film, the capybara has become a celebrity. But not everyone likes it and many are asking the authorities to intervene
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himThanks to the Disney film 'Encanto' coming out this fall, the capybara has become a celebrity. But not everyone likes it and many are asking the authorities to intervene to reduce its population.
There is great anticipation for the new Disney movie 'Encanto', set in the Valle de Cocora, Cordillera de los Andes, Colombia. The protagonist is a normal girl who lives in a magical house, with a bizarre family endowed with extraordinary powers: every member of the family is endowed with a power, except Mirabel, the young woman for whom the public will certainly sympathize.
But, in addition to the magical atmospheres inspired by the literature of Garcia Marquez, the hats and clothes in bright colors, the music of South American inspiration, there is another protagonist of this film: it is the capybara. It is a large rodent (the largest in the world) widespread in South America, in particular in Argentina, related to guinea pigs, which lives in the savannah and in the forests near the bodies of water. It lives in very numerous groups (which can reach up to 100 individuals) and, even if it is not considered an endangered species, it is subjected to poaching by man for its meat and fat.
Unfortunately, however, just as it comes to the fore on the film posters and on the numerous Disney gadgets, this animal is under threat from the Argentine authorities who want to reduce the number of specimens. In the gated community of Nordelta (a district of Buenos Aires, Argentina), this rodent is extremely widespread and is creating many problems for the resident population, who are asking for immediate action to deal with this real invasion.
There are three hot fronts: on the one hand, the population exhausted by the 'spite' caused by these animals left free to roam around the inhabited centers (they have been spotted eating in domestic gardens, and have also caused several road accidents with their presence on the roads); on the other the animal rights associations, which push for a defense of these rodents; finally, the local authorities, accused of not doing enough.
On the right, a family of capybaras in the trailer for the new Disney film (@ DisneyIT / Youtube)
A problem of overpopulation that should not be underestimated, if we consider that only about thirty years ago the capybara was practically extinct after decades of poaching and that only thanks to the work of volunteers and animal activists has it returned to such important numbers.
According to the local authorities - it is not necessary to kill the animals, but their reproduction must be controlled with the methods indicated by the specialists in order to maintain a quantity that conforms to the ecosystem that hosts them with their well-being and that of the community. The situation is today unsustainable for the capybaras, because they no longer have enough food for so much quantity, and they expand towards the outskirts of Nordelta, managing at this rate to generate problems outside the borders of Nordelta itself in a very short time.
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Source: The Country
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