But the elder reminded us that his 90-year old mother knew nothing but scarcity of caribou, whereas her grandchildren knew nothing but abundance. Generations in between may have lived through periods of increase or decline. So… in order to get the full picture, you had to assemble the experience and stories of many generations, and resist projecting your own life-experience as the final word
To me, this reinforced the elusive, ghost-like quality of caribou. Where are they now? Will they return this year? If not, people starved.
What emerges, of course, are dramatic ups and downs in numbers over time. In the case of the mighty George River herd in northern Quebec/Labrador, this has meant as few as 5000 animals, and as many as 800,000!
Right now the big herds there are thought to be in decline, but we’ll have a better idea after a new survey this year. Still, assuming that caribou will always recover depends on whether the future will resemble the past. With climate change, increasing industrial disturbance of the land, and the enhanced ability to harvest more animals, is that a safe assumption?
I hope future generations will have their own experience of caribou.
Migratory tundra caribou from the George River Herd
Tags: caribou, conservation
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Hi Peter. Thanks so much for catching this – the photo was accidentally mislabeled (and definitely not an error on Monte’s part). I’ve made the correction.
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Monte. George River caribou are not “woodland caribou,” which is how they are termed in your photo caption above. They are barren ground caribou. The animals in the Mealy Mountains, Red Wine and Lac Joseph herds are “woodland.”
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