northernbushcraft:Where have all the reindeer gone?Woodland caribou, gentle “ghosts of winter,
northernbushcraft:Where have all the reindeer gone?Woodland caribou, gentle “ghosts of winter,” survive by being elusive, and are rarely seen even by biologists, except from the air, such as this group, part of the Central Selkirk herd, spotted in Canada’s Goat Range Provincial Park in March 2011.One subgroup, the South Selkirks herd, lives in a mountainous swath between Nelson, B.C., and Priest Lake, Idaho, with a few members ranging into extreme northeastern Washington.This herd plodded along at about 100 animals for decades, then stayed somewhat stable for years at about 50.But in an annual census two years ago, their numbers plummeted from 47 to 27. Nobody really knows where the 20 others went. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the South Selkirks caribou herd is now one bad winter, or misguided shoot-’em-up party, away from extinction.http://seattletimes.com/html/pacificnw/2022396111_1222cariboucover3xml.html -- source link