Species Use Database

Chacoan peccary
Catagonus wagneri

Used for Food and feed in Paraguay

A. Species

Scientific name: Catagonus wagneri

Common name(s): Chacoan peccary

Global IUCN Red List Threat Status: Endangered


B. Location of use

Geographic location(s):

  • Paraguay

Country/Region: Paraguay / Dry Chaco


C. Scale of assessment

Scale of assessment: Individual Site

Name/Details of location: Defensores del Chaco National Park / located in the Alto Paraguay Department near the Bolivian border (20◦10′ 12′′S 60◦18′ 5′′W).


D. Timescale of use

Start Year: 2013

End Year: 2013


E. Information about the use

How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat

Type of use: Extractive

Practice of use: Hunting and/or Trapping of live terrestrial and aerial animals

Lethal or non-lethal: Lethal

Does this use involve take/extraction of: The whole entire organism

Purpose(s) of end use: Food and feed

Motivation of use: Basic subsistence

Is this use legal or illegal?: Some use is legal and some is illegal


F. Information about the Users

Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: Local people


G. Information about the sustainability of use

Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered unsustainable

Details of assessment carried out: Local people (n=32) and wildlife management and conservation professionals (n=11) were surveyed and asked about their perception of population trends.

Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: From the study's surveys, local people had an even 3-way split opinion on whether the Chacoan peccary was increasing /stable / decreasing; for conservation professionals this perception had a slight (40%) bias toward the decreasing category (30/30 stable/increasing).

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered unsustainable

Details of assessment carried out: This study

Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Although local people lacked access to commercial meat sources due to isolation and deprivation and therefore hunted, this population could not support these levels of exploitation.

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered unsustainable

Details of assessment carried out: This study

Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Although local people lacked access to commercial meat sources due to isolation and deprivation and therefore hunted, this population could not support these levels of exploitation.

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered unsustainable

Details of assessment carried out: This study

Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Alternative sources of nutrition must be sought / provided.

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: not recorded

Details of assessment carried out: This study

Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Not recorded


Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species

According to the study, although local areas have been created to protect wildlife and other natural resources, and current harvest rates and conditions suggest sustainability, hunting remains a potential threat to Chacoan and whitelipped peccaries, and thus should be tracked over time. One option may be to provide or subsidize an alternative source of protein for locals, or to otherwise compensate people for not hunting Chacoan and white-lipped peccaries, the two most endangered species. In addition, because most people in this area were generally able to distinguish among peccary species, this might be an effective platform upon which to build greater targeted education measures for encouraging voluntary reductions in the harvest of these species. Alternatively, the perception that Chacoan peccaries were locally abundant, possibly due to their use of roads and relatively less wariness around people, may lead to resistance to adjusting harvest rates – possibly indicating a need for conservation messaging targeting those stakeholders that rely on wildlife harvests as part of their livelihood.


Record source

Information about the record source: scientific_pub

Date of publication/issue/production: 2021-01-01T00:00:00+0000

Source Reference(s):

Saldivar-Bellassai, S., Feldpausch-Parker, A., Giordano, A. J., & Frair, J. (2021). Hunting practices and harvest of peccaries in the northern Paraguayan Dry Chaco. Biological Conservation, 256, 109059.

Date of record entry: 2022-11-21