The Selkirk Caribou herd has lost 2/3 of it's already critical population in the past five years bringing the total number of individuals down to 18. It's thought that without assistance the caribou would be extirpated.
"Caribou" by Dean Biggins (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) - US FWS, DIVISION OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, WO3772-023. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
You're probably wondering why Canada is saving US species. Me too. Probably because the Selkirk herd wanders back and forth across the international border between our two countries and the Selkirk herd is part of the efforts in the South Peace to reverse the decline of caribou herds.
The most expensive and immediate effort by the Canadiens is to eradicate the two wolf packs that prey on the Selkirk herd. Officials expect to cull 24 wolves from the area by the time the snow melts, part of a wider plan to cull roughly 180 wolves. I think they got a pack last week.
There's been a lot of back and forth about the causes of the caribou decline, but one thing they do know is that if they want to reverse the decline they first have to end the predation by wolves. They probably should have done this fifteen years ago.
Woodland caribou eat lichen which takes a long time to grow. It's been suggested that saving old growth is the key to caribou survival. Also the new access to caribou provided by ski and snowmobile trails is thought to have aided wolves in finding the animal, also logging adds habitat for deer and moose which wolves use as alternate prey to survive when they can't find caribou.
Hunting of woodland caribou ended long ago, and logging has been curtailed by the Canadian government. Recreationists have been asked to stay away so to deny access via their trails. There's plenty of habitat for 18 caribou, for now the most pressing problem for caribou is to not get killed.
As always there is much argument over subspecies, in this case I think there are very noticeable and obvious differences in size, color, habit, and antlers. None the less if all the Selkirk herd were gone tomorrow it could always be replaced, and if all the woodland caribou were gone tomorrow we could replace them with barren ground caribou and they would still be caribou. It's just too bad that a large mammal is disappearing from the lower 48 and absolutely no one is even noticing.
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