Volunteers pack snow around the  caribou so they don’t overheat  as they come out of sedation ( photo courtesy Gov’t of BC)

Cranbrook,B.C.- 19 caribou from the Dease Lake area have been transferred to the East Kootenays to help save the Purcell-South Mountain range herd. 

The transfer was handled by biologists from the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, working alongside local First Nations and volunteers. 

The Purcells-South herd, in the East Kootenay region, is estimated to have fewer than 15 individual animals remaining. The additional caribou are expected to increase genetic diversity and overall herd strength. 

The new caribou are from a healthy donor herd and have been fitted with GPS radio collars to track their movements. Caribou were moved by road in animal trailers specially designed for this purpose. 

Seventeen females and three males were captured, but one of the females died during transport. 

Wolves and cougars in the Purcells-South region have also been GPS radio collared. Scientists, led by Dr. Dennis Jelinski at the University of Victoria’s Laboratory for Landscape and Ecosystem Ecology, will be working with provincial biologists to study the interactions between the caribou and local predators. The information will be used when making future decisions on the management of the herd and the predators. 

There are approximately 1,700 mountain caribou throughout B.C. The species is listed as threatened under the federal Species at Risk Act and red-listed (threatened) in B.C.

The Mountain Caribou Recovery Implementation Plan is committed to bringing mountain caribou populations back to their to pre-1995 levels when there were more than 2,500 animals. The plan has set a target date of 2027 for reaching that goal province wide while the goal for the Purcells South herd is 100 caribou 15 years from the first release. A further 21 caribou will be moved to the Purcells-South next year.