カピバラと富裕層、高級住宅地でせめぎ合い　アルゼンチン

【ブエノスアイレスＡＦＰ＝時事】南米アルゼンチンの首都ブエノスアイレス郊外にある高級住宅地に、体の大きな齧歯（げっし）類が頻繁に出没している──カピバラだ。カピバラの「侵入」は、同国の環境・社会政策の課題を浮き彫りにしている。（写真はアルゼンチンの首都ブエノスアイレス郊外にある高級住宅地で草をはむカピバラ）
　湿地帯を開発してできた１６００ヘクタールの「ノルデルタ」は、塀で囲まれ、敷地の入り口にゲートが設置された富裕層の居住区だ。この近くを流れるパラナ川に、カピバラが生息している。
　侵入するカピバラが手入れの行き届いた芝生を荒らしたり、ペットにかみついたりする他、交通事故の原因にもなっているという住民の苦情が後を絶たない。
　現地で「カルピンチョ」とも呼ばれるカピバラは、体長１．３５メートル、体重８０キロにまで達する最大級の齧歯類だ。
　絶滅危惧種の保護および環境問題に取り組む財団「リワイルディング・アルヘンティーナ」のセバスチャン・ディマルティーノ所長は、「ノルデルタは豊かな自然が広がる湿原地帯。決して手を付けるべきではなかった」とＡＦＰに語り、「既に影響は出ている。住民らはカピバラと共存する道を模索するしかない」と指摘する。
　ノルデルタの居住区ができたのは今から２０年前。敷地内には、住宅やオフィスの他、ショッピングセンター、学校、教会、シナゴーグ（ユダヤ教の会堂）などがあり、水鳥が生息する人工の池もある。
　だが、クリニックを設ける目的で最後の手付かずの土地を開発し始めてから、カピバラの侵入が見られるようになったと多くの住民は語る。
　湿原地帯での大規模開発はカピバラの生息地を奪うだけではなく、大雨の際に必要となる保水機能も阻害する。その影響で周辺のより貧しい地域に水害を生じさせてしまうのだ。
　政治的に二極化するアルゼンチンでは、ノルデルタの居住区が富裕層による搾取の典型的な例だとして、長らく左派の批判を招いてきた。また、労働者階級のヒーローとしてカピバラがパロディーで描かれることもあった。

■われわれが彼らを追い詰めた
　すべての住民がカピバラを厄介者と思っているわけではない。一部からは、保護区の設置を求める声も聞かれる。
　ある住民は、「多様性を維持するためには、２０～３０ヘクタールの保護区があれば十分」と話す。「カピバラにはどうすることもできない。われわれが彼らを追い詰め、生息地を奪った。そして今度は、彼らが侵入してきたと文句を言うようになった」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/09/09-10:27）

Families of a giant rodent native to South America have been invading a luxury gated community in Argentina, highlighting the country's controversial environmental and social policies.
Nordelta is a 1,600 hectare (3,950 acre) luxury private urban complex built on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, on a wetland from the Parana river that is the capybara's natural habitat.
Many Nordelta residents have complained about capybara's ruining manicured lawns, biting pets and causing traffic accidents.
Also known as a carpincho or chiguire, the capybara is the largest rodent in the world and can measure up to 1.35 meters (53 inches) in length and reach 80 kilograms (176 pounds) in weight.
Nordelta is an exceptionally rich wetland that should never have been touched, biologist Sebastian di Martino, conservation director at the Rewilding Argentina foundation, told AFP.
Now that the damage has been done, the residents need to reach a certain level of coexistence with the carpinchos, said Di Martino.
Built 20 years ago, Nordelta has homes, offices, a shopping center, schools, a church, a synagogue and an artificial lake that is home to aquatic birds.
But since work to build a clinic began on the last remaining piece of natural land, many residents have noted a sudden capybara invasion.
Carpinchos were always here. We always saw them from time to time. But three or four months ago (builders) went for their last remaining stronghold and the stampede began, Perla Paggi, a Nordelta resident and capybara activist, told AFP.
Nordelta and similar luxury developments on wetlands have also been a controversial topic in Argentina.
As well as eating into the capybara's natural habitat, large scale development of the wetland means the soil can no longer absorb heavy rains, which then end up flooding poorer surrounding neighborhoods.
In politically polarized Argentina, leftists have long attacked Nordelta as an example of elite exploitation, while jokingly presenting the capybara as a hero of the working classes.
- Lack of predators -
Di Martino says the proliferation of capybaras is harmful to the environment, but that too is the fault of humans.
Capybaras are prey for jaguars, pumas, foxes, wild cats and wild dogs but all of these animals are now virtually extinct in Argentina.
It's happening all over the country, in urbanized and non-urbanized areas. It is caused by the alteration and degradation of ecosystems. We've extinguished a ton of species that were their natural predators, Di Martino told AFP.
The carpincho needs a predator to reduce its population and also make it afraid, said Di Martino.
When there's a herbivore without a predator threatening it, it doesn't hide and can spend all day eating, thereby degrading the vegetation which traps less carbon and contributes to climate change.
In the wild, capybaras live between eight and 10 years and give birth to litters of up to six young, once a year.
Not everyone in Nordelta views them as a nuisance. In fact they have become the main attraction in the residential complex.
Drivers slow down to take pictures of them, while children seek them out at nightfall for selfies.
Some Nordelta residents want to create a natural reserve for the capybaras to live in.
We have to learn to live beside them, they're not aggressive animals, said Paggi.
A 20 to 30 hectare reserve is enough to maintain diversity. They are defenseless animals, we corner them, we take away their habitat and now we complain because they're invading.
Di Martino, though, says a natural reserve would change nothing.
It's complicated, you need to keep them away from children and pets. And then you're going to have to find a way to reduce the population, maybe moving them to other places.