The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Camelids => Topic started by: waterbuffalofarmer on May 18, 2016, 07:21:02 pm

Title: The peruvian vicuna
Post by: waterbuffalofarmer on May 18, 2016, 07:21:02 pm
Apparently these animals are a very endangered species and are well known throughout the fibre world for producing the best quality fibre for clothes. I must admit I only found out about them today via google ;D The problem is you cannot buy them for domestication in the UK, that is of course only by searching once on google. According to certain research sources, you need a dangerous animals licence, as they're initially a wild animal in peru, there are some people in the US which farm them; I was wondering..... does anyone know if you can get hold of them in the UK at all for keeping as livestock, I immagine the price per animal would be very expensive?
Title: Re: The peruvian vicuna
Post by: harmony on May 18, 2016, 07:39:52 pm
According to Wikipedia they were considered endangered when their numbers dropped to 6,000 and have now risen to 350,000 so don't sound as endangered as some of our sheep breeds. Seems you can only clip them every three years so it will be expensive wool.
Title: Re: The peruvian vicuna
Post by: waterbuffalofarmer on May 18, 2016, 07:55:15 pm
ah right so that would explain it. They hardly sound worth keeping unless you had a massive herd of them and somehow I doubt the British government would be happy about it :roflanim:
Title: Re: The peruvian vicuna
Post by: Fieldfare on June 08, 2016, 08:49:05 pm
Chester zoo has some. I think they command about £20K each if you can find any for sale.