Reading trip reports from the famous Dientes Circuit in Chilean Patagonia, you hear horror stories of environmental devastation.
Here’s how it happened.
… In a classic example of ecological shortsightedness, the problem began when fifty North American beavers (Castor canadensis) were introduced by the Argentine government during the 1940s in the hopes of establishing a fur industry. Since then however, without natural predators to trim their numbers, the beaver population has now exploded to 100,000 – invading almost 16 million hectares of unique, native forest.
– it looks like bulldozers steamed through,†says ecologist Josh Donlan, director of Advanced Conservation Strategies, a non-profit based in Driggs, Idaho. …
original photo – flickr
Treehugger – Plans to “Totally Eradicate” Tierra del Fuego’s Invasive Beavers
The “final solution”.
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