A Troubling Decline in the Caribou Herds of the Arctic by Ed Struzik: Yale Environment 360

A Troubling Decline in the Caribou Herds of the Arctic by Ed Struzik: Yale Environment 360: "23 Sep 2010: Report
A Troubling Decline in the
Caribou Herds of the Arctic
Across the Far North, populations of caribou — an indispensable source of food and clothing for indigenous people — are in steep decline. Scientists point to rising temperatures and a resource-development boom as the prime culprits.
by ed struzik

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More caribou goodies, a bit older

A Caribou-bou in the Warming Arctic
New York Times (blog)
By STEVE ZACK A long-running joke with my nieces, Allison and Lindsay, is that a mistake involving caribou is a “caribou-bou.” Our caribou-bou is now clear. ...
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 B.C. to monitor, manage, mitigate habitat for threatened boreal caribou
Winnipeg Free Press
The ministry says caribou populations will be closely monitored over the next five years, and specific measures will be established for their management and ...
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 Exploratory drilling for zinc raises concerns for caribou, environment
Vancouver Sun
By Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun June 22, 2010 9:00 PM A Vancouver mining company proposes to conduct exploratory drilling for zinc on threatened caribou ...
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Caribou controversy Chico News & Review US District Judge H. Russel Holland ruled that federal wildlife officials are allowed the time necessary to determine reasons for the declining caribou ... See all stories on this topic

Caribou issue more complex than "kill them all" Juneau Empire The ratio of caribou bulls to cows is skewed at 5:100. The bulls are old, leading to low birth rates and unhealthy calves. Reported predation on calves ... See all stories on this topic

My national animal: the noble caribou - The Globe and Mail

My national animal: the noble caribou - The Globe and Mail: "Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Published on Tuesday, Jun. 29, 2010 12:01AM EDT Last updated on Saturday, Jul. 03, 2010 12:28AM EDT

In the days leading up to Canada Day, The Globe is teaming up with Facebook for an unscientific survey of Canadians about what our true national symbols should be. We've also asked a few Canadians to share their picks. Today, author Joseph Boyden makes his pitch.

Be it resolved that the caribou should be our national animal.

And let it make no difference should said caribou represent any one of the three major subspecies—Peary of the far north, Barren Ground of the central north, or Woodland of the low north – for they all share unique and resilient qualities befitting a country that is in itself so unique and resilient.

See all the contenders at Facebook Canada

Agree or disagree? Is the caribou really Canada's national animal?

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Speaking to the resilience of the caribou, this is an animal that can cover one hundred kilometers of the toughest and most frigid terrain imaginable in a single day, pawing through snowdrift and ice for the meager yet nourishing lichen in winter, fording vast rivers and mosquito-plagued tundra in summer.

Still, in every life upon this earth there will always be predators. The world of the caribou contains its enemies too; its sinewy flanks are the mouthwatering awe of polar bear, grizzly, wolf, lynx, and even the eagle when it spies from above the newborn calf.

Some say the animal’s greatest predator is the human race, but it isn’t through the most obvious relationship between hunter and hunted. Rather, it is through our growing hunger for the earth’s bounty.

The creation of pipelines that cut through and cut off traditional migration routes, the encroachment of construction on sensitive feeding grounds, and the continued temperature rise that threatens to topple the Arctic ice into a warming sea might very well account for the drastic drop in caribou populations all across the north.

And so let these resilient beasts be a reminder to us all that there’s great irony in the fact that we make these animals’ already tough lives much tougher in our constant hunger to fill our own lives with more ease.

Your favourite places in Canada

We asked Canadians to send us their Facebook photos of their favourite places in Canada. Here are our editors' picks, from Tofino to Twillingate

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While gender equality might not be a phrase commonly considered when we speak of the natural world, a fascinating fact exists when we consider the mighty caribou: it is the only member of the deer family in which both male and female grow antlers. If this fact alone doesn’t impress you, imagine yourself carrying a weight equal to your thighbones fused to your forehead as you run through said tundra or away from said polar bear.

Perhaps the caribou’s greatest strength is its desire to gather in massive herds after the rut in autumn and to travel en masse through the tough winter months, staying together as one giant entity, one huge family, until the miracle that happens on the birthing grounds in late spring allows them to break off into smaller families for the pleasant months of summer.

Read more about our National Symbols project

The Globe is teaming up with Facebook to ask Canadians about what symbolizes Canada

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Caribou innately understand that strength exists in numbers, that they are better protected from hungry predators in the fall, the killing cold in winter, and the bloodsucking mosquito hordes that awake in the spring. The caribou recognizes, most importantly, that the good of the group, for much of the year, far outweighs the needs of the individual.

What an incredible lesson for humans, if only we allow ourselves, for just a moment, to believe we can actually learn something from an animal so perfectly suited to its environment.

And no, it cannot go without mention that caribou is absolutely delicious in a stew with braised carrots, potatoes, onion, red wine, and perhaps half a bottle of Guinness beer. Is there anything more sublime than to be allowed to consume a tiny part of the spirit of this animal, the spirit of the North, the spirit of this country? It is only just, then, only right, that at the moment of eating, to offer up our hearty thanks to one so resilient and unique.

Joseph Boyden is an award-winning novelist whose heart is in the north no matter how far south he sometimes resides.

Agree? Disagree? Vote online and have your say at facebook.com/facebookcanada

Caribou News backlog!

Eco groups back First Nations call to protect boreal caribou
Montreal Gazette
They argue the provincial government has not done enough to halt the decline of the herds, ignoring a recommendation in 2005 from its own woodland caribou ...
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 Caribou protection a priority
Edmonton Journal
Our member companies are committed to protecting Alberta's wildlife, including the caribou. Through our involvement with the Alberta Caribou Committee, ...
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 Mining, logging halt urged to help caribou recover
Winnipeg Free Press
The fire burned about 55000 hectares north of Cranberry Portage and destroyed a large part of the Kississing-Naosap caribou herd's range, ...
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Revised NWT caribou plan presented CBC.ca The NWT government banned hunting of the Bathurst caribou herd in the territory's North Slave region on Jan. 1. The ban remains in place while officials ... See all stories on this topic » CBC.ca
Alaska judge blocks 1000 caribou hunting permits Anchorage Daily News AP ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A judge in Kenai has blocked the state from issuing an extra 1000 subsistence hunting permits to take caribou in the Nelchina herd ... See all stories on this topic »
Alaska: Caribou Commons Or America's Lost Ace? Forbes In this case, this new Alaska could be labeled "the caribou commons." By now it's clear that the Great Plains region has value well beyond accommodating ...  1 day hunting season for Fortymile caribou herd Anchorage Daily News That's how long the caribou hunting season along Steese highway will last this summer. In an effort to avoid an over harvest of the Fortymile caribou herd, ... See all stories on this topic » In Nelchina Basin, village caribou hunts face shutdown Alaska Dispatch With less than two weeks before fall caribou and moose hunts are scheduled to begin, questions remain about whether Alaskans who were granted 2010 permits ... See all stories on this topic » Alberta First Nations urge caribou protection CBC.ca Canada's declining herds of woodland caribou will survive only if governments protect large tracts of northern forest from oil and gas and other development ... See all stories on this topic »Declining Unimak Island caribou have disappeared and reappeared before Alaska Dispatch The season of rebirth has not been a good one for the caribou of Unimak Island or the biologists who study them. The biologists engaged in trying to ... See all stories on this topic »Outfitter calls for compensation for travel to Bathurst Caribou hearings HQ Yellowknife Yellowknife, NWT - Groups concerned about the proposed plan to manage the Bathurst Caribou herd will make the trip to Behchoko next month to present their ... See all stories on this topic »Canada needs more, bigger parks to protect wildlife: study AFP As examples, the report blamed "habitat fragmentation" for grizzly bear deaths and for the decline of woodland caribou in Banff National Park until the last ... See all stories on this topic » CBC.ca