Image courtesy of The Happy Cappy
Several recent studies have found that capybara and cattle can graze similar pastures without serious conflict (Barreto et al., Hoogesteijn et al., Lord-Rexford, Quintana et al.). Not only do they have diets with few overlapping fauna types, they do not overlap in physical space often as capybaras must stay so close to standing water. Additionally, there is a growing demand for capybara meat, especially during Lent, as well as a mild demand for their skin. As such, farmers have begun to realize that they can increase the profitability of their land by farming capybara. Capybara harvest can be done several times a year and it is most often done at night with a flashlight and a shotgun. The flashlight is used to mesmerize the animal which is then either shot in the head or clubbed.
Habitat conservation is a large concern in many of the places capybara currently still roam wild. The persistent thrust of human industry is destroying not only the habitat of the capybara, but also of the thousands of other creatures that call the same ecosystem home. Because of the feeding and standing water requirements of the capybara, in combination with their high rate of population growth, farming capybara is in itself often a small scale conservation effort (Hoogesteijn et al.). Perhaps because of the drastic disparate seasons, large, non-aquatic animals have been unable to flourish in most capybara habitats (Hoogesteijn et al.). In fact, capybara are, for the most part, the lone large herbivore in most of their natural habitats. As such, the normal large prey predator has not evolved. Adult capybara lack any sort of significant predator at all, and as such, they can be farmed in an almost completely natural setting (Hoogesteijn et al.). Because of this last fact, many conservationalists have strongly pushed for governmentally subsidized capybara farming.