Hunters killed one of the last mountain caribou in Gaspésie in mid-October, an “illegal slaughter” that Quebec Wildlife Protection (PFQ) is investigating.
Published at 10:49 am. Updated at 10:54 a.m
The slaughtered caribou, which was wearing a telemetry collar, was one of six females captured and caged last spring, the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Wildlife said in a statement on Monday. and parks to which the PFQ reports.
She was released at the end of August.
Suspects were “encountered” by wildlife officers on October 18, the PFQ states, adding that officers previously went to the scene where the animal was killed, accompanied by a dog handler and a drone, to “initiate the investigation.” . not yet finished.
No further information will be provided, the PFQ said.
The Gaspésie mountain caribou has been an “endangered” species in Canada since 2003 and has been listed as “threatened” in Quebec since 2009.
The population was estimated at 34 individuals in the last inventory in 2021.
Quebec had difficulty capturing six of the herd’s 15 females in March and April and housing them in an enclosure to protect them from predators during the calving season, but the only two fawns born in the spring died soon afterward, just like one of the mothers.