The Last Mountain Caribou

I recently spent a few nights winter camping in the hope of tracking down some Central Mountain Caribou in Northern BC. Canada. After seeing fresh footprints in the snow not far from camp, we finally located some of these amazing animals on the morning we were due to head home. The situation has been described as dire for the Central Mountain Caribou population by the Federal Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). Numbers of Central Mountain Caribou across Alberta and B.C declined by 60 per cent between 2004 and 2014 to just over 500 mature individuals in 11 herds. The shots above and below are of a large male stag.

Mountain Caribou of Northern BC have been in a steep decline since the 1990’s. Their decline is a result of direct habitat loss along with increased predation associated with ecosystem change from land alteration. While they are listed as threatened federally in Canada COSEWIC has recommended that mountain caribou be listed as endangered. This particular herd was counted via aerial survey at 120 in 2007 and had dropped to 45 by 2012. It seems the implementation of a caribou management plan in 2013 has potentially stabilised the population; however there has yet to be any significant increase with the herd being counted at 50 in 2015. Some other herds such as the Maligne heard in Jasper National Park in Alberta have dropped from over 100 animals to less than 5 in the same time frame and are said to be now below recovery levels.

The shots above and below are of some female Caribou. Unlike deer and moose; females also grow small antlers each year.

I took all the shots on this post with a Canon EOS 6D Mark II using a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at between f/4.5 and f/8.

We did spot a few baby Caribou on the trip. They obviously represent the future of the species and provide some hope that mountain Caribou will be peaking though the forest for many generations to come.

Rob Downie
Love Life, Love Photography

_{All images in this post were taken by and remain the Copyright of Robert Downie - http://www.robertdowniephotography.com}