The caribou of Gaspésie are on the verge of extinction and poachers last month killed one of the last females of this population of around 30 animals. The animal wore a telemetry collar to track its movements.
According to information published Monday by the Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks (MELCCFP), wildlife protection agents seized meat from this caribou and encountered “suspects” who allegedly killed this animal.
The caribou killed was wearing a telemetry collar. “This is one of the females captured and penned in winter 2023. She was released with the other females at the end of August after the recommendations of an external scientific advisory committee,” specifies the ministry in its press release.
Quebec Wildlife Protection “is closely monitoring this matter and wildlife protection officers will take all means at their disposal to do this,” adds the MELCCFP.
No fawn
This slaughter of one of the last female caribou in Gaspésie is further bad news for this population. In addition to this poached female, another died earlier this year in the enclosure set up to try to facilitate the birthing and protection of the fawns.
Last spring, six females were captured and placed in an enclosure so that births took place in captivity, in order to reduce calf deaths. But the outcome was ultimately zero.
The mountain caribou of Gaspésie, which constitute the last population of the species living south of the St. Lawrence, number no more than 32 to 36 animals, according to the most recent inventory published by the government of Quebec. In 2019, their declining herd was estimated at 40 animals, while inventories published based on 2017 data reported the presence of around 75 animals.
According to government experts, “the recruitment rate”, i.e. the presence of fawns, “does not allow us to consider the population as stable”. Result: “the mountain caribou population of Gaspésie remains 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 Mounts McGerrigle, Albert and Logan, those where caribou are found in the park.
“Protective measures”
Reacting to the announcement of the poaching of a female caribou, Nature Québec deplored a situation which adds to the anthropogenic threats weighing on the species, including the disturbance and destruction of their habitat outside the limits of the Gaspésie National Park. .
Concretely, logging, in addition to destroying the old forests necessary for caribou food, facilitates the arrival of predators, which has the effect of increasing the mortality of young caribou.
“The mountain caribou of Gaspésie is so fragile that each individual that dies can lead to the disappearance of this population, especially if it is a female. This act of poaching therefore brings the population a little closer to extinction. We hope that the government will do everything in its power to ensure that this situation does not happen again,” underlined Alice-Anne Simard, general director of Nature Québec.
“We also hope that ambitious, science-based protection measures will be quickly implemented by the federal and provincial governments to allow the population,” she added, repeating the call made to the Quebec government for him to present a strategy for protecting the species which has been postponed several times in recent years.