Saving an endangered 'pest'

RELATED VIDEO CNN's Gary Strieker reports that those who care about guanacos say the animals have gotten a bad rap Windows Media 28K 80K

March 11, 1999
Web posted at: 12:33 p.m. EST (1733 GMT)

CABO DOS BAHIAS, Argentina (CNN) -- Guanacos, the wild cousins of domestic llamas, once numbered in them millions in the southern half of South America. Now only a few hundred thousand survive.

The species is on the verge of losing its long-running conflict with sheep ranchers, who regard the guanaco as a worthless animals that spreads diseases to their herds.

As CNN's Gary Strieker reports, the only way to save the guanacos may be to give them some kind of economic value.

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