Last of dwindling herd was killed in April avalanche
Parks Canada is looking at ways it could reintroduce caribou into Banff National Park after the area’s only known herd of the at-risk species was snuffed in an avalanche.
About 15 years ago Banff had a caribou population of around 30 but over time the herd dwindled down to the four or five animals that were killed in the April avalanche. “There’s the possibility there’s other caribou out there but with numbers as low as they are we’re not that optimistic that it’s a viable number to recover” says Bill Hunt a Parks Canada resource conservation manager. Caribou are important for both the ecosystem and visitor experience in the park he adds.
Now Parks Canada is researching the feasibility of relocating more caribou into the park. “We don’t want to take somebody’s caribou and plunk them in if their odds are not reasonable for survival” says Hunt adding that it’s unknown where the animals would come from.
Nigel Douglas a conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association says it would be challenging to re-establish the Banff herd. “Caribou are in trouble in a lot of their range and certainly there’s no herd in Alberta that would be safe enough to be able to take animals from.”
The biggest threat to Alberta caribou Douglas says is habitat destruction throughout the province. “That’s the issue that needs fixing…. The focus should be on managing caribou habitat rather than just trying to sort of micromanage individual animals like that.”
