https://www.quechuabenefit.org/
One of the highlights of our trip was Vicuna Chaccu, or the annual shearing of vicunas.
The vicuna is sheared every other year, yielding about 30 dag of priceless fleece.
Not long ago, vicunas were threatened with extinction, but the Peruvian government introduced strict protection for these animals and also ‘allocated’ the animals living in a given area to the Indians occupying that area.
It is the Natives who protect ‘their’ animals from poachers and in return they are allowed to shear them and sell their fleece. This is their main source of income.
For me, this is an example of such a perfect symbiosis. Vicunas live happily in the wild, reproduce, no one kills them and in return they give their fleece.
We participated in this event in Picotani (Puno region) at an altitude of over 5000m above sea level.
From the surrounding area, the Indians rounded up several thousand animals for shearing. The view was moving and breathtaking.
All of this is done with great respect for the animals in the presence of a veterinarian. The animals are shorn and released into the wild.
This is a great celebration for the residents.
Joanna Najbar
