Caribou

I have never seen a Caribou in the Wild and likely Won’t.

When I was in Labrador (1986-89), I often went to the wildlife conservation office and checked the status of the George River Caribou herd. They had tracking collars on some animals, and seeing where they were going was fun. At that time, it was the largest herd of caribou in the world. There was talk of the herd numbering a million animals at that time, although now the estimated peak was 800,000. Since 2001, the herd has declined by 98%, to 7,200, according to the July 2022 semi- annual government census.

Many caribou herds are in trouble across Canada’s North. They are impacted by climate change, forest fires, and changes to their habitat by human intrusion, such as mining, dams, and roads. To many Indigenous groups, the caribou is central to their culture. For some of these groups’ access to their traditional hunting practices is diminished because the caribou herds are so diminished that hunting is banned. This greatly impedes the transfer of the culture to the indigenous youth.

Both indigenous cultures of Labrador, the Innu, and the Inuit, focused on the hunting of caribou.