Although they are in continuous decline and threatened with extinction, the isolated herds of woodland caribou in Charlevoix, Val-d’Or and Gaspésie will still be there in five years, believes Minister Pierre Dufour.
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“I say there will still be some left. Are the dynamics of each of these herds going to be different? It is possible ”, confided the Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks at the microphone of Philippe-Vincent Foisy on QUB Radio, Friday, the day after the publication of very not very encouraging reports for the future of the species. .
These government reports unveiled Thursday show that the Charlevoix herd, the victim of significant recreotourism pressure on its territory, only has between 17 and 20 animals. That of the Chic-Chocs Mountains, it has melted to barely thirty caribou, against nearly a hundred in 2013.
The Val-d’Or herd now has only seven animals that now live in an enclosure.
“We are always worried about the beast, the efficiency structure so that these animals can pursue an adequate life, as we are also worried about the repercussions when taking actions for the populations and communities who live in those places, ”said Mr. Dufour, who is also a member of Parliament for Ungava, alluding to the fact of allowing logging in areas of woodland caribou habitat.
Pierre Dufour nevertheless believes that interim measures such as the establishment of enclosures to protect caribou from predators and the dismantling of several hundred kilometers of forest roads are bearing fruit.
In the documentary “Save our forests” unveiled on the VRAI platform last week, experts and activists urge the minister to act, in particular by limiting the loss of habitats due to logging. Minister Dufour, however, says he needs more time.
“I think that measures, we have taken and we still needed to have a way of seeing things with the intervention of an independent commission with people who I think will be able to give us a portrait, without be polarized, neither on one side nor the other, ”insisted Pierre Dufour.