Microchips Counter Alpaca Smuggling
February 18, 2005
Peruvian alpaca herders are turning to technology to prevent a growing problem of the high Andes Mountains; the smuggling of prize-winning, wool-producing alpacas to neighboring countries, reported Associated Press.
An association of alpaca farmers is surgically implanting microchips into hundreds of alpacas as part of an effort to reduce illegal transportation of animals. The microchips, which are about the size of a pencil eraser, include genetic information about each alpaca and can be read by hand-held scanners.
Planning also has begun for programs that would tag the alpacas with devices to track them by satellite, if necessary, but funding is still needed to get it started.
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