"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor is it the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change." - Charles Darwin
“I invite you to join our mission”.
These were the closing remarks from Pia Vergara, Executive Director of the Cerro Guido Conservation Foundation, at a talk in Chile last year. She had just outlined the history and the work they were doing to protect pumas in southern Patagonia. I was lucky enough to be in the audience, listening intently. I hadn’t heard the details of the Cerro Guido projects in great detail, and it was fascinating.
As luck would have it, a few hours later I was seated next to and had dinner with Pia and her team, and we discussed conservation projects in Patagonia and similar projects around the world.
48 hours later, I found myself on the back of a horse, in Cerro Guido, taking in the breathtaking scenery. This was the home of the puma, although it wasn’t always welcome in it.
Estancia Cerro Guido is located in Southern Patagonia, all the way down at the southern edge of Chile. The jagged mountain tops of Torres del Paine have always been the main drawcard for this region. But aside from this famous iconography, these mountains are not a true indication of the whole area. In reality, apart from this famous range and with the exception of various dramatic cliffs, the vast majority of the land here is made up of sweeping grassy plains. Picture the vast plains of East Africa, but freezing. Wide open to channel some truly epic winds and enduring the frozen winters of the region, this area has remained sparsely inhabited and has long been made up of vast ‘estancias’ (stock farms). Down here, life is challenging, nature is king and the ‘gauchos’ (cowboys) who maintain the herds are steely in their resolve.
For the longest time, it was these gauchos against nature herself. Raising livestock, anywhere on earth, is hard work. Cerro Guido, today the largest estancia in the region, is also home to extreme weather patterns that make life more challenging. And, like cowboys all around the world, there were also the natural predators of the region to protect their flock against. In some places it is wolves, or coyotes, or dingoes. In Cerro Guido, this adversary was the puma. For years, the method they used was a system of eradication. Season after season, in order to protect their livelihood, they hunted down and killed the puma of the region. It wasn’t uncommon for hunters, paid by the farmers, to kill over 100 pumas a year. And up until 1980, it was also financially incentivised by the government in order to protect this important international industry.
But times change. And, as Pia entered the scene, attitudes were changing too.
Pia wasn’t always the international face of Puma conservation. A wildlife photographer by trade, she had long visited the region to shoot the animals in a different way. And as you’d expect, she fell in love with the region and the creatures within it. After getting to know the owners of Cerro Guido, and after years of discussion about the conservation of the region, she embarked on a massive project to protect the puma. But changing the long-held beliefs of the locals isn’t as simple as just telling people to stop. Here, at the south of the continent, there is even more that is endangered than meets the eye.
Although this region of Patagonia is divided between the countries of Chile and Argentina, the people who call this area home share more similarities with each other than they do with their own countrymen from further north in the cities of Santiago and Buenos Aires. Any difference that a border brings down here is a little less relevant than the obvious cultural differences between the city and the country. And as we know from around the world, when someone from the big city lectures the regions about the best way to do things, it doesn’t always go down well. For the people of Cerro Guido, it was more than just the puma. It was a risk that their traditions, history and culture could be lost as well. Changing minds can sometimes, just like the force that shaped this area, move at a glacial pace.
I asked Pia about this, and what she thought was the best way to change long-held beliefs.
“Honestly, it’s a process — a paradigm shift — and that takes time,” she explained. “The changes happen gradually. I believe the best way to convince ranchers is through concrete evidence, by showing that things can be done differently, always backed by science and consistent fieldwork. On the other hand, it's also about understanding that the old model is no longer sustainable for various reasons — climate change, which directly affects forage availability; the fluctuations in meat and wool markets; and the growing global awareness that we must protect biodiversity. In this context, coexistence becomes essential for conservation.”
To change behaviour around conservation, the best approach is always one of inclusion rather than exclusion. You can see this in Rwanda, where former poachers were used to apply their skills to instead track the gorillas for tourists. And it was the same approach used for Cerro Guido. In order to study the puma and mitigate potential conflict, the best assets are sometimes the hunters who used to hunt them. After all, who knows them better? Combine their knowledge with the scientific knowledge of the research team, and you are off to a good start.
However, this changed attitude towards the puma doesn’t solve the biggest issues facing the farmers. It’s all well and good to want to keep pumas alive, but the gauchos still needed to protect their flocks from them. Their way of life and their culture isn’t something that can be cast aside just because someone thinks pumas should be protected. For the uninitiated, it’s one of the fundamental flaws of online activism. As much as people might not want to admit it, locals living in wildlife regions have a right to protect themselves against wild animals or protect their livelihood. One of the biggest challenges of wildlife conservation is removing the causes of the conflict between animals and people. This is attempted in a variety of ways, typically by discouraging wild animals from destroying a local's livelihood or making the wild animal’s survival interlinked with their livelihood. In Cerro Guido’s case, it was both.
Despite this foundation and program for the pumas, Cerro Guido isn’t a wildlife conservancy. It’s still a working estancia, where livestock ranching is still at the core of what they do. In fact, for many visitors, this is one of the main attractions. They get to go and visit a working estancia and take in the unique culture of the region and its people. The Cerro Guido Conservation Foundation makes this part of its main mission. They aren’t simply trying to stop pumas being killed; they are trying to find the best methods to protect the future of both the puma and the local way of life. Or as they say, ‘conserving natural and cultural heritage through harmonious coexistence’.
They have tried multiple studies and methods to prevent puma predating the flocks, from ‘foxlights’ to sheep management strategies. But, as Pia explains, “So far, the most effective tool has been the use of livestock guardian dogs — they've shown incredible results. When combined with changes in livestock herding practices, like keeping animals in more compact groups and using herding dogs, the results are even better. If you add repunte (which means gathering all the sheep in one area of the field at dusk so the dogs can guard them more effectively overnight) mortality rates drop to nearly zero. We’re currently running an experiment to measure the effectiveness of guardian dogs in order to build a model that can be replicated and shared elsewhere.”
Alongside this the daily study of the local puma, through daily tracking and camera traps, has revealed the unique lives of the inhabitants of the region. Pia has become intertwined with the lives of each puma, each of them leaving their own mark on her. She is able to tell the stories of the puma families that live here and their offspring, now well over 5 generations. And slowly, the pumas are returning home.
“We haven’t conducted a formal population study yet, but we’re about to install a camera grid that will allow us to estimate population densities of certain species, including pumas,” she said. “However, there’s no doubt that the population has increased since hunting was stopped.”
And it extends beyond one species. As the puma population increases, the natural balance to the environment they bring also restores, making the whole region healthier and more biodiverse. The guanaco, the wild cousin of the llama that is traditional prey of the puma, is in abundance and in good health. The grasslands are healthier as a result. And from this natural balance, other lesser species make their return. The colocolo cat, thought extinct and not seen at Cerro Guido for 30 years, was recently sighted on a camera trap.
I saw it myself as I drove across the estancia in the back of a Land Cruiser, peering out the windows with two Argentinean travellers. It was my second venture out looking for puma here, the first time spotting them at a distance near an escarpment. This time, the researchers had sighted one only a hundred or so metres from the road. Sleek and powerful, it looks relaxed but alert. The puma has become more comfortable with human presence, but always keeps their distance. And this distance is encouraged by the research team. Outside of the protected estancia the puma’s future is less certain, and they don’t want to lessen this natural wariness in case they ever leave the boundaries. But, with local estancias and lodges seeing the success of his project, the puma might have a future where their movements incur less risk. They might be able to live a more natural life again. I see this exact thing that afternoon as we walk across a craggy ridge line. Peering through a telescope, we can see a puma high on the mountain with young cubs. We stand there and take in this sight, the research team bubbling with excitement as they share their passion with us and tell us stories of the Foundation’s projects.
The passion they have for this area is infectious. You can also see it in the team at Estancia Cerro Guido. Whilst we could go on about the amazing estancia accommodation and the top quality food on offer, none of it matters without this authenticity. For a few days, you step into the rural life of this region. The terrain here is the star, with vast steppes dotted with guanaco and livestock. Lakes dot the landscape with the wind making ever-changing ripples and patterns across the surface. Behind it all, the mighty towers of Torres del Paine loom large over the lives here. But in their shadow, the gauchos tend to their flocks and run their estancia. And amongst this, the puma roams free and safe. Like all in nature, it’s a delicate balance of forces.
Pia puts it simply. “So, the combination of these three elements — livestock, conservation, and tourism — makes the project both very challenging and very rich in terms of outcomes. It’s also what makes it so special.”
“Special”, as is Pia’s style, is understated.
For me, when it comes to Estancia Cerro Guido and the work her team is doing, I’d put forward “Incredible”.
