Semi-captive management of the Amazonian tapir (Tapirus terrestris) in the Ecuadorian Amazonian secondary forest, Pastaza Province

Abstract

When we began the experiment with domestication and management of wild mammals, we had to find out exactly what each species in the project ate. In the case of the tapir (Tapirus terrestris Linnaeus), or "Sachawagra" (as it is called in the Kichwa language), we had some preliminary information that needed to be tested. Because time was short, we decided to take "Bambi"—our female tapir, then still a baby—into the virgin forest and find out firsthand what she ate. "Bambi" saved us future costs on external inputs like food and medicine, and taught us how important it was to conserve the forest in its natural state so that it could be used without damaging it. It became clear that the concept of modernization, which destroys at the expense of expanding the agricultural frontier, was a setback, a regression. On the contrary, experience has shown us that technology that values ​​the ancestral indigenous practice of domestication and animal husbandry is appropriate for working with native Amazonian fauna in the indigenous Amazonian context, conserving species, like the tapir, that face serious threats of extinction. The "Fátima" Amazonian Resources Technology Center of the Organization of Kichwa Indigenous Peoples of Pastaza (OPIP) has been working within this philosophy for more than 10 years, presenting technologies related to the domestication, husbandry, and management of the Amazonian tapir. The Center seeks to promote alternative resource management technologies that reduce the ever-increasing dependence on external markets and that foster family, local, and community initiatives for wildlife management as a recognized and traditional source of animal protein.