The woodland caribou population has recently increased with the birth of several fawns in Charlevoix and Val-d’Or.
Posted at 5:50 p.m.
The Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks (MFFP) announced Monday that six of the seven pregnant females of the Charlevoix population gave birth between June 2 and June 24, 2022. One of the six fawns died, however, a few days later. His birth. The population penned in February now numbers 21 individuals. In Val-d’Or, two fawns were added in May to the seven caribou that were penned.
These enclosures were presented last winter by the MFFP as “a temporary solution to curb the decline of isolated populations of woodland and mountain caribou in Val-d’Or, Charlevoix and Gaspésie. »
But according to several experts, if this solution proves unavoidable in the short term, the Government of Quebec will still have to come up with a real strategy to restore the habitat of the woodland caribou in order to ensure its survival. However, the decline of the species is largely attributable to the disturbance of the natural habitat of the cervid due in particular to logging.
In the spring, the Government of Quebec launched an Independent Commission on Woodland and Mountain Caribou, an initiative described by several experts as “window dressing”, especially since no biologist sits on this commission.