The Quebec government is once again banking on captive keeping to prevent the disappearance of a caribou population on the verge of extinction. Everything indicates that the majority of caribou in the Gaspé will remain in enclosures, their habitat still suffering from a lack of protection to ensure the survival of the herd, which is not part of the federal decree.
Not only is the mountain caribou an emblematic species of the Gaspésie National Park, which is located in the heart of its critical habitat, but it also represents the last population of woodland caribou living south of the St. Lawrence. Under Canada’s Species at Risk Act, it is a distinct species from the woodland caribou, which survives in the boreal forest.
However, it is now on the verge of extinction, so much so that the Quebec government has launched a program to capture and keep pregnant females in enclosures. This operation was carried out last year and this year. The goal was for the fawns to be born safe from predators, before being released at the end of the summer, to increase their chances of survival.
The operation was not successful in 2023, but this year, 13 of the last 25 caribou were captured in February, including 10 females and 3 males. A total of 6 “healthy” calves are now in this enclosure, bringing the total population in Gaspésie to 31 individuals. This means that 60% of the caribou are currently in captivity.
Will all the caribou in enclosures be released this year, as planned? The Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks confirmed by email that “keeping the group of caribou in captivity for a slightly longer period is being considered.”
The aim would be to promote reproduction. “The presence of three males in the captive-keeping facility will allow one or more captive breeding cycles to be carried out and provide the information needed to optimise recruitment, while documenting the low pregnancy rates observed,” the ministry explained in response to questions from the Duty.
Indefinite captivity
Unlike the cases of the Val-d’Or and Charlevoix caribou, for which there is no plan to eventually release them, the ministry says it wants to consider releasing some animals from the Gaspé. “Sporadic releases of individuals are envisaged as a proportion of the caribou remain in the natural environment.”
Quebec does not yet know “the duration of the use of this management measure”, which will be evaluated in particular in the context of possible measures “such as predator control and habitat restoration”.
Instead of presenting the caribou protection strategy promised for several years, the Legault government announced in the spring that a “consultation” would be held on measures intended to better protect certain populations, including those in the Gaspé.
The consultation document indicates that the government could authorize the continuation of mining activities related to exploration and exploitation in “conservation massifs” or in a “habitat restoration zone”. It should be noted that the increase in the number of mining exploration permits in recent years means that the national park created by the Quebec government is bordered by areas covered by permits to the south, north and east. These areas also overlap with known caribou habitat.
Logging activities or the construction of a new road may also take place in certain habitats, but they will be subject to “conditions” or “authorization”.
The federal government did not list the mountain caribou of the Gaspé Peninsula in its draft emergency decree. “Within the meaning of the Species at Risk Act, the caribou of the population [de la Gaspésie] is considered a different wildlife species from boreal caribou. It was therefore not included in the imminent threat assessment on which the minister based his recommendation for an emergency order,” Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) recently explained to Radio-Canada.
“Imminent threats”
Martin-Hugues St-Laurent, a professor in the Department of Biology, Chemistry and Geography at the Université du Québec à Rimouski and a recognized specialist on the species, believes that the federal government must review its assessment, due to “imminent threats” to the herd. This population “faces a very high risk of extinction in the near future,” he stressed in a notice submitted to ECCC in August, as part of federal consultations on the decree. The document was co-written with Justina Ray of the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada.
In 2019, the already sharply declining herd was estimated at 40 animals, while inventories published from 2017 data reported the presence of around 75 animals. During the first censuses, in the 1950s, their number was estimated at between 700 and 1,500. When inventories became systematic, in the 1980s, the population did not exceed 250 individuals. This isolated herd is therefore in a critical situation.
According to government experts, “the recruitment rate”, or the presence of fawns, does not “allow them to consider the population as stable”. Result: “the mountain caribou population of the Gaspé exists in a context of great precariousness due to the small size of the groups frequenting the three sectors, the low recruitment rate and the little exchanges between these groups”. The three sectors in question are the McGerrigle, Albert and Logan mountains, or those where the caribou are found in the park.