{"id":201878,"date":"2026-03-17T17:06:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/?p=201878"},"modified":"2026-03-17T17:10:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:10:56","slug":"cerro-guide-puma-estancia-torres-del-paine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/cerro-guide-puma-estancia-torres-del-paine\/","title":{"rendered":"Can pumas and sheep coexist? One Patagonian ranch thinks they have the answer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s a story as old as humanity itself: the conflict between farm and wilderness, between those raising livestock and predators looking for an easy lunch. Whether it\u2019s ranchers and coyotes on the American plains, Maasai herders and lions, or shepherds versus wolves in the mountains of Europe, the question always remains: can people, livestock and apex predators happily coexist? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One estancia in Torres del Paine believes that they can, and is looking to both science and tradition to come up with solutions that allow it to keep its sheep ranching heritage alive while peacefully sharing its landscape with the pumas that the region is so famous for. I spoke to the team at Cerro Guido about their conservation efforts \u2013 and how guests at the estancia can experience them firsthand in one of the best places on the Patagonia to go puma tracking<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patagonia’s gaucho culture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Estancia Cerro Guido is the largest and oldest working ranch in the Torres del Paine<\/a> region. It spreads across nearly a quarter of a million acres (101,000 hectares) of land between the national park\u2019s eastern boundary and the border with Argentina. It operates as a boutique hotel, but ranching remains at the core of its existence, with more than 4000 head of cattle and 18,000 sheep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Estancia Cerro Guido, on the edge of Torres del Paine National Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We are ranchers,\u2019 Gonzalo S\u00e1nchez, one of Cerro Guido\u2019s managers explained to me, \u2018and as ranchers we have a historical conflict with pumas trying to eat our sheep.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, estancias dealt with pumas by hunting them. Every ranch would employ a gaucho called a leonero<\/em>, a puma hunter whose sole job was to kill the cats and who paid a bounty for every one that he shot. Although hunting pumas was made illegal in Chile as far back as 1980, the practice had continued in many places. As recently as 2017, Gonzalo tells me, Cerro Guido was employing leoneros<\/em> to kill dozens of pumas a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pressures against hunting have been accompanied by a recognition of the economic value that pumas can bring through wildlife tourism. In some parts of Chile, some estancias have even decided to move away from ranching altogether, running only a few head of livestock or removing them entirely from the land to get into the eco-tourism business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sheep ranching at Cerro Guido<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gonzalo was adamant that this was never an option for Cerro Guido. \u2018Culture in Patagonia is symbiotically linked with the economic activity that we do. Without a working estancia, you have no gaucho culture \u2013 and without gaucho culture, you have no Patagonia culture.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Puma hunters turned conservationists<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cerro Guido decided that the best way to preserve its herds and the wildlife on its land was to turn its Leoneros into puma\u2019s biggest champions. It wasn\u2019t an easy prospect, Gonzalo admits. Patagonian culture is very conservative, and gauchos are possibly the most conservative of all. \u2018They\u2019re super stubborn,\u2019 Gonzalo laughs. But through perseverance, the estancia but now employs one of the region’s top puma hunters<\/a>, Mirko, as a guide in its new conservation project (Mirko’s story is so extraordinary that he made him the subject of Swoop\u2019s latest documentary,\u00a0The Puma Hunter<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>