Today there is a population of more than 5,000 vicuñas in the Pampas Galeras, but it has not been easy to achieve this number. Every day, rangers like Hernán Sosaya monitor the area that consists of 65 square kilometers, located in the Ayacucho district of Lucanas.
The vicuñas used to be in the red list of Endangered Species that could be extinct. “The tasks for the recovery of this species included the creation of a reserve (Pampas Galeras National Reserve Bárbara D'Achille) that will help to stop this danger. That is how Galeras was born”, said RPP Noticias.
Control measures had to be implemented in order to stop the illegal activities of poachers that look for animal fiber to sell it for $1,000 US dollars per kilo. Added to this, according to information from RPP Noticias, was the terrorist violence that threatened to destroy every advance anyone tried on this matter.
“That is why Hernán does not tire of repeating that they are fortunate. There are 200,000 vicuñas that populate the Andean departments of Peru”, the media said.
Sendero Luminoso and the armed forces in 1994 were a very important threat to the population and the vicuñas. To survive, RPP told, people had to be on constant movement.
As for Galeras, in 1988 the base and checkpoints of this protected area - the third oldest in Peru - were closed and the workers evacuated. The ranger staff was able to return six years later and they noticed that the vicuña population had been reduced to half the number since the creation of the reserve.
