More Data Suggests Caribou Herd Is In Trouble

Friday, July 10, 2009 at 14:04

A recent survey of the Beverly caribou herd has alarmed the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board.

Board Chair Albert Thorassie says last month’s survey doesn’t estimate population size, but observers counted fewer than half the number of breeding cows than the year before.

Thorassie says this doesn’t fare well for the Dene people who live on caribou in northern Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories, and parts of Nunavut.

Thorassie says the board needs government funding to conduct proper surveys that could give population estimates.

He says the board would then develop an action plan to hopefully stop the decline in caribou populations.

In the meantime, Thorassie encourages people to hunt only what they need — “never mind going out there and slaughtering 30, 40 caribou”.

He also wants hunters to kill bulls, not cows.