MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Beaver control in Patagonia.

With the help from Canadian institutions the Chilean Agriculture and Livestock Department is involved in a cleansing policy to control species harmful to the Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego habitat.

Among the main invasive species figure the beaver and mink which were introduced in the area decades ago and have multiplied in Tierra del Fuego and the Navarino and Dawson islands. The list also includes the grey fox, brown rat and domestic animals that have become wild such as cats, hogs, horses and cattle.

The first step is to teach locals how to set traps and capture beavers which could be exploited for their skins.

Jose Luis Cabello, head of the program to control harmful species revealed that in 1999 a field research showed the existence of an estimated population of 61,000 beavers in Tierra del Fuego that will reach 100,000 by 2012.

"Beavers cut trees and build dams which flood fields, but we can also exploit them by selling skins", said Mr. Cabello who indicated that an initial target of the program is to kill 15,000 per year.

"Next year we're planning some experimental exports with our friends the Canadians who are experts in beavers".

Mr. Cabello said beavers were first introduced in 1946 in the Argentine side of Tierra del Fuego and since have colonized extensive areas in southern Patagonia.