Hard Truths of Conservation (2022) s03e03 Episode Script

(gentle music)
- Argentina is probably best
known
for its incredible vistas,
range riding gauchos,
and status as a global
destination for dove hunting.
But there's so much
more to the story here.
Home to both native and
non-native species
that both require ongoing
management
and monitoring for effective
conservation in the landscape.
Hunting has become a
controversial
practice in modern times.
My name is Dan Cabela
and I'm traveling the globe
to explore the true impact
that hunting is having on our
remaining wild landscapes.
This practice goes as far back
as human history can remember,
but does it have a place
in modern conservation?
(gentle music)
Argentina is home to a wide
variety of flora and fauna
and has a rich history
of hunting deeply embedded in
the culture.
Many hunters visit the country
each year
in pursuit of the abundant
dove and duck populations.
A few hours south of Buenos
Aires City in Argentina,
hunting outfitter, Dr. Patricio
Geijo,
is spearheading
a landscape
scale survey
of bird populations
workingalongside
universities.
This year he is joined by
ecologist, Dr. Clara Trofina.
- So we are here now in
order to make this survey
and to get exact numbers
of birds in this area.
And the main goal would be, be
sure that the extraction rate
that we are doing is exactly
what we need
to keep everything in ecological
balance.
- At the university, I am
researching grassland birds
and their interactions between
predators,
and breeding success of them,
and different management
in their breeding sites.
I'm not used to count
them if they are so many.
So fortunately we had the help
of hunters.
(gentle music)
- [Dan] Commercial farming has
created an abundance of food
for birds like doves
and ducks in Argentina.
That and the lack of natural
predators,
has led to large increases
in some populations,
which can be very destructive
for agricultural crops,
such as rice and wheat in the
region.
(gentle music)
- It's really a good
morning for bird watching.
- [Dan] Clara is using a
specialized app on her phone
to log and record all the data,
so it can be added to a national
database.
This information will be used by
hunters
and the authorities to better
inform
regional population management.
- I think we are done here.
- Okay, let's go.
- What was the total here?
- A lot (Patricio laughs).
- [Clara] 150 ducks.
- [Patricio] 100?
- 150, over 100 ducks.
- Yeah, for the size of
this pond is more than okay.
- [Dan] Historically, booms
in duck and dove populations
in Argentina impacted
agriculture to the extent
that farmers operated mass culls
across the country,
decimating the numbers.
- The old farmers, and I'm
talking about the late
seventies,
the beginning of the eighties,
decided to poison all the rice
fields
during the same moment.
It caused the life of millions,
literally millions of birds.
It is a good example about what
happens if you don't control
the birds in a very
wise and scientific way.
(upbeat music)
- [Dan] It's not just
ducks that are monitored
through this program.
Argentina's most iconic game
bird,
the perdiz is also surveyed,
but with a very different
method.
- Perdiz is a sort of quail,
bigger.
It's native from Argentina.
- [Dan] Unlike with duck
surveys,
perdiz monitoring uses pointing
dos
to locate and flush the birds.
By working the dogs
along specific transects
and varying habitat types,
the team is able to track
population trends over time.
The careful monitoring of the
population
allows hunting outfitters to
ensure
only harvestable surpluses
are taken during a season.
(whistle blows)
(upbeat music)
- [Patricio] Muy bien.
- Now we have 23 perdiz.
Oh!
- Well, yeah, that was an
exception.
You very rarely see them in
couples.
- [Clara] Nice.
(upbeat music)
- [Patricio] 39.
- [Dan] I believe when hunters
work
with science-based
individuals or organizations,
that much can be accomplished.
It is through these
partnerships,
that better understanding
of conservation challenges
can be achieved and it is the
science
that has the greatest impact
and helps us to better inform
conservation decisions.
(gentle music)
I joined Patricio
and head to Lamoda Estancia
to see how hunting is
providing both economic
and conservation benefits in the
area.
This area has a lot of
introduced non-native species,
such as red deer, black buck,
and buffalo.
Here they use hunting
to manage populations.
We've hardly come out of the
lodge
and we're already seeing game,
so things are looking good
and definitely looking forward
to it.
Happy to be in Argentina
and ready to get this thing
started.
Today we are hunting black buck,
which were brought to Argentina
from India in the 1920s.
With limited natural predators
and without proper management,
their population would
grow out of control.
Overpopulation impacts
not only agriculture
and native flora and fauna,
but also the health of the black
buck.
(gentle music)
Okay, yeah, so they think
this one might be pretty good,
so we're gonna try to
get a better look at him
and you know, we'll see what
happens once we get up here.
(gentle music)
(gun fires)
- Congratulations for a very
good black buck, very nice.
- Thank you.
- You are helping us to
control them a little bit.
As I told you before,
we have too many, and they don't
have any natural predators.
They were imported from
India one century ago,
and they found the perfect
habitat here in Argentina.
So basically, they thrive in
each place
that they were introduced.
It's a pleasure to give you
a chance to experience this
because as you have seen,
it's very easy to find them,
but not that easy to get close
to them.
- No doubt there.
- You did a very good job.
(gentle music)
- [Dan] With every new location
I visit,
my understanding of how
we can better manage
our landscape deepens.
I'm forever eager to learn.
(gentle music)
(ducks quack)
I think this morning, we're
gonna head out
and look for water buffalo.
We've seen a couple since we've
been here.
Saw a pretty good one yesterday
evening.
Should be warming up here pretty
soon.
So we're ready to get this day
started,
and hopefully, we get on
some buffalo here shortly.
(gentle music)
Definitely not a shortage
of mosquitoes here
either, getting ..
(gentle music)
(gun fires)
- Look at this, congratulations.
- [Dan] Thank you.
Wow.
This is probably the biggest
one of these I've seen.
I'm humbled by the sheer size
and beauty of the animal
that lies before me.
(gentle music)
Over the last couple
of days with Patricio,
I have come to appreciate
the intricate balance
between the management of
land for the environment,
the people, as well as the
wildlife.
And it feels good to play
a small role in this.
(gentle music)
(fire crackles)
Now, it's time to share our
harvest.
(glasses clink)
The meat is delicious
and excellently prepared.
I'm thankful to experience this
meal
with great Argentinian wine,
alongside my newfound friends.
There's one more thing
I wanna see before
leaving Argentina,
and that involves a
trip to Patagonia
to meet with
two biologists,
Dr. Werner Fluke
and Dr. Jo Anne
Smith
In 2022, they created a center
to research
and conserve the endangered
huemul deer,
which is native to Argentina and
Chile.
So far it's been a great
success,
and they're hoping to learn
enough about the species
to save it from extinction.
(gentle music)
- And I show you first this one
because this was an animal
that we actually captured
and had a radio collar on there.
This animal also is not very
old,
based on the fact that these
areas of different bones,
the joints fused in time,
and here they're still totally
unfused.
You can also still see that the
wear is not very progressed.
It's like not a very old
animal, plus the non-fusion.
And on this one too,
you can see on the side
very, very thin bones.
It coincides with that.
Most animals that we have
found here dead and alive,
have these type of problems.
- Right, and just recently
we got some lab results back,
showing that they're low
and deficient in vitamin D3.
And we know with humans, it's
a discovery that in nutrition,
that humans need D3
for bone development and
it works with vitamin K
and of course, calcium.
So if they're all deficient in
D3,
not only is their immune
system compromised,
but they're also going to
affect their bone development.
An animal that makes it to
adults
and breeding should be making
it at least to 12 and beyond.
Captivity can be 21 years
old with huemul deer,
but, and you're seeing it,
those 35 we found, we aged them.
The ones that we could age
and maximum was five years of
age.
That's pretty young.
- Yeah, it'd be interesting, you
know,
with these new fawns that
have been born in captivity,
you know, years from now.
- [Werner] Exactly.
- To just see with the, you
know,
with the supplemental feeding,
you know,
more of a controlled
environment,
easier on the animal.
It'd be interesting to see
if there is a difference
or if it's still the same.
- [Jo Anne] Or something else
going.
- Yeah, yeah.
Since the huemul are so elusive,
they are incredibly difficult to
study
and the exact cause of
the mineral deficiencies
is still being researched.
How many huemul do you estimate
there still are in the wild?
- No more than 2000.
More likely, probably 1500.
That's in both Chile
and Argentina combined.
- Werner and Jo Anne are
taking me to see the huemul.
All the adults have
tracking collars on them.
So Werner is using telemetry
to guide us to where they are.
The area has plenty of cover,
so they may be difficult to
spot,
even if we know where to look.
I'm really hoping that
we can find one of them.
(gentle music)
What herd size would you
guys be comfortable with here
to start releasing them back
out?
- Right now we have eight
animals
and the goal would eventually
be to have 30 minimum
and then we would start at that
point,
releasing some maybe three to
six animals,
male and female groups
into a different area.
So we are looking at
maybe four or five years
if the females are, you know,
all fertile and successful
in introducing animals.
And this would be, yes, the
very first in Argentina.
We're the first center in
Argentina
and we're also the first time
that they'll be doing a
reintroduction.
So it's pretty monumental.
- So all these years of hard
work.
Hopefully in the near future,
it's all gonna pay off.
- [Jo Anne] Yeah, that's our
wish.
That's our dream.
And we've been dreaming it a
long time.
and so we'll be stuck with it.
It better happen.
- [Dan] Yeah.
(gentle music)
- I think an important part
of having a center also
including research
where you begin to understand
more about,
we don't even know how many
days a gestation period is.
We're still guessing.
You know, faith in biology.
- Sure.
- We should understand this.
We need to understand it,
especially if we're gonna have
other centers opening in
Argentina, Chile, in the future.
And there are people now
interested in opening
their own centers, so
this could be a way that,
you know, we can give
them all this information.
- That's great.
Exciting times for sure.
That was, that was unbelievable.
- [Jo Anne] Yeah.
- I mean that just, it's been
a really awesome eveni..
- [Jo Anne] Yeah, I didn't know
we'd get that close to them.
I'm really happy that we-
- Can't thank you enough for.
- [Jo Anne] He didn't take off.
- Allowing me to see this.
This is amazing.
- [Jo Anne] All right,
I'm glad you could come,
really nice to have you here.
(gentle music)
- It is an incredible experience
to spend time observing the
rare and endangered huemul deer.
I consider myself quite
fortunate
to experience this in person,
considering there are estimated
to be less than 1,500
remaining in the wild.
Werner and Jo Anne have
one more surprise for me
before I have to fly back home.
They have located one
of the does with a fawn,
and I am thrilled to experience
something this special
and rare in person.
(gentle music)
You know, we've been watching
this doe
and Jo Anne said that it has a
fawn,
but we never saw the fawn,
but it was really cool
because as she was feeding away
from us,
we could hear the fawn calling,
calling her over maybe to feed
him.
I mean, not really sure.
We've kind of lost sight of him,
but pretty cool experience.
I mean, definitely a first, you
know?
- You guys got to see something
that is so rare to see and hear.
- Yeah, that was amazing.
- Yeah.
(gentle music)
- If I have learned
one thing from my trip,
it is that conservation
needs passionate people
with a true care for nature.
Only if we all come together
and share knowledge,
can we hope to safeguard our
landscapes
and wildlife for future
generations.
Argentina has strong historical
and cultural ties to
hunting and conservation.
This became apparent almost
everywhere
we traveled across the country.
Because there are so many
non-native species in Argentina,
proper management is
needed to control numbers.
Hunting is an essential tool
that not only helps to
manage these species,
but also provides an economic
incentive for landowners
to hold onto large tracks of
land
and look after the habitat.
(gentle music)