Capybara meat has long been an ingredient in the food of South America’s indigenous peoples. Today, some of these animals are also raised for culinary purposes.
In Venezuela, the popularity of capybara meat has led to a significant depletion of the population, prompting intervention by the government to halt the species-destroying practice by giving the animals protected status. Annually, only 20% of the entire Venezuelan population can be hunted for food. Legal issues, unfortunately, do not level the illegal practice, so it is estimated that the percentage of animals killed each year is much higher.
