The Environment Ministry announced on Monday that it was investigating the killing of a female caribou that was released two months earlier from the enclosure set up to save the species in Gaspésie.
• Also read: Gaspésie caribou: protecting fawns to ensure their survival
• Also read: The caribou population in Gaspésie continues to decline
“The slaughtered caribou was wearing a telemetry collar. This is one of the females captured and placed in an enclosure in the winter of 2023. She was released along with the other females at the end of August on the recommendation of an external scientific advisory committee. The ministry explained this in a press release in the name of protecting Quebec’s wildlife.
Wildlife officers began investigating the animal’s death on October 15, with the help of a dog handler and a drone pilot. On October 18, they finally encountered suspects and confiscated the caribou meat.
The Gaspésie mountain caribou herd – the only herd living south of the St. Lawrence – now consists of just a handful of individuals, compared to 700 to 1,500 in the 1950s. At the last inventory in 2021, the population was estimated at 38 individuals.
Last March, six females, including two pregnant ones, were captured and placed in an enclosure to protect them from predators. However, in the following months, one of the females and the two fawns that were born in the enclosure died.
In August, the five remaining females – including the one killed by poachers – were released “so that they can contribute to the reproduction of the population in the wild in 2023,” the ministry said.
In addition to the mountain caribou in Gaspésie, the woodland caribou north of the St. Lawrence River are also threatened with extinction. The survivors of the Val d’Or and Charlevoix herds have been housed in enclosures, while the other populations are being closely monitored.
A hunter who kills a woodland caribou faces a fine of $20,000, and a repeat offense of up to $40,000.