Update on Study into Caribou Population

[Jacalynn Furlong]

The provincial government is learning more about the island's caribou population and its predators thanks to a 15.3 million dollar study that is now winding down.  It's been a mystery that has made people scratch their heads since the early 1990's; the once plentiful, native caribou are declining across the island.  Shane Mahoney led members of the media and Minister Terry French into the Middle Ridge area late last week.  Among the discoveries: a kill-site where only fur, a jaw bone and a collar remain from a caribou calf that had been a meal for a black bear.  Mahoney says black bear, coyote and lynx are all predators of the caribou.  Each have distinct ways in which they kill and dispose of caribou calves.

The current population is 32,000, with a calf survival rate of only 30-35% -- making the chances of population growth nil.

Since the project's launch in 2008,12-hundred animals have been collared in an effort to track their movements. Mahoney says that the decline cannot be attributed to any one factor. The results of the most comprehensive study of this type will be released in 2013.

VOCM NEWS

[albert linegar]

 The only thing that  dead remains can tell is that it was eaten there and  the " scavengers " that fed on it may be identified by teeth marks ,beaks however, don't leave marks . Remains can't tell weather or not it was actually killed or was dead when the predator came upon it . If it was already dead , from disease or parasites and a bear came upon it , naturally it would look like a bear kill , likewise any other predator would take on  characteristics similar to it's method of  kill .It will be interesting to see the final conclusions from this 15.3 million dollar study.

         Albert.