Our Story | FCGC

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Your contribution is very important to continue with studies of behaviour, eating habits, reproduction, movement, etc. As well as helping to maintain and improve livestock protection tools, such as guard dogs.

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At the beginning of 2019, Estancia Cerro Guido set itself an ambitious goal: to find a way to make livestock farming compatible with the conservation of biodiversity in one of the most inhospitable regions on the planet,

and the southernmost limit of puma populations.

Learn about our story here:

The main objective of the CGCF seeks to resolve the coexistence of flora, fauna and livestock. The mission of the initiative is considered necessary to sustain the ecosystem, otherwise, damage and undesirable effects could occur in the environment.

There is an ideal of raising awareness about the natural and cultural heritage of our country. These concerns and needs led to the creation of the CGCF with the aim of "Preserving the natural and cultural heritage from a harmonious coexistence between its actors, safeguarding the legacy for future generations and humanity."

Guanaco, Pia Vergara - Conservacion Estancia Cerro Guido Patgonia

Historically there has been a conflict between wildlife and livestock. Competition between livestock and local populations of guanaco began to emerge and the latter began to be hunted by humans.

As a consequence, the puma, finding fewer natural prey to consume, began to prey on domestic livestock, thus beginning a conflict that continues to this day.

Over the years, the Estancias grew and occupied wild areas inhabited by the puma, which intensified the interaction. In its beginnings, a single farm could lose 10% of its annual production. In retaliation, the pumas began to be hunted down and killed. In the 1920s, records from a single Estancia show that 84 pumas were killed in just one year.

Despite being legally protected throughout the national territory, the puma continues to be persecuted and hunted. This is a reality that occurs not only in Patagonia, but in almost the entire distribution of the feline in the world.

At the beginning of the year 2019 the "puma project" is born.

The main objective of this project in its beginnings was to conserve wildlife by maintaining customs in the area, looking for coexistence between livestock and wildlife.

This is how during the first year we focused mainly on knowing the distribution and use of the space of the puma and other species within the ranch. Through the methodology of camera traps and direct sightings, we were able to identify a total of 32 different puma individuals within the monitored sectors.

In mid-2019, the puma project officially becomes the

Estancia Cerro Guido Conservation Area, being part of a team made up of 3 areas; ranching, tourism and conservation.

In collaboration with the livestock area of the Estancia, the first approaches were made towards livestock management and the implementation of measures that minimize puma predation on sheep, such as, for example, work with livestock protection dogs.

Then, during the year 2020, the investigation of the puma was consolidated through constant monitoring in the field and the use of camera traps and we also began a collaboration with the Panthera foundation - experts in felines around the world- with a view to incorporating scientific research related to the biology, ecology and conservation of the puma in the Estancia.

We jointly designed an experiment that seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of the two main measures to reduce attacks on cattle that we are implementing on the farm: the use of livestock protection dogs and Foxlights deterrent lights.

During this second year, we also started planning a new excursion called “Conservation Safari”, where passengers will accompany our professional trackers to the field, who have dedicated themselves to studying the pumas living on the Estancia.

This same year the coronavirus pandemic began, which meant that with the closure of borders and systematic quarantines established in different regions of the country, the tourism sector was strongly affected - consequently, we were unable to start the "Conservation Safari" this year.

Despite being a difficult year, we took advantage of the opportunity to focus our efforts on working in collaboration with the livestock area, which allowed us to advance towards a cattle ranch in coexistence with the population of local pumas.

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During this third year we began to see the need to transform the "Puma project" into something bigger and officially become a foundation, in order to not only cover the conservation of the puma, but also the entire natural heritage as well as the cultural heritage.

Thus, in October 2021 we began to form the Cerro Guido Conservation Foundation, creating the statutes and officially becoming a foundation in January 2022.

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"Our task must be to live free, widening our circle of compassion to encompass all living creatures

and the whole of nature and its beauty."

- Albert Einstein

BECAUSE OF YOUR CONTRIBUTION OUR IMPACT WILL BE EVEN GREATER

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BECAUSE OF YOUR CONTRIBUTION
OUR IMPACT WILL BE EVEN GREATER