The results of a joint survey between the NL, Quebec, and Nunatsiavut governments show that the George River caribou population remains at a vulnerable low.
The latest census data shows that the herd’s population, which is estimated at 7,200 animals, has dropped by 11 percent since 2020, and more than 98 percent since 2001.
There is some cause for optimism, however. The census showed that while the overall population dropped, the adult portion of the population increased an average of seven percent per year from 2018 to 2022.
The 2020 census showed the first George River caribou population increase in over 25 years, from an estimated 55,000 caribou in 2018 to 8,100 in 2020, due largely to a summer of high birth rates and a population made up of 35 percent calves.
The herd’s range is remote with low human-related habitat disturbance and low wolf densities. Current census results show calves make up 22 percent of the total population, relatively similar to calf populations in 2018 and 2016, and recent years have shown considerable improvement in both adult female survival and fall calf recruitment compared to the years leading up to the caribou hunting ban implemented in 2013.
The province says despite the gains the continued illegal hunting of caribou by a relatively small number of people continues to delay and threaten herd recovery. The goal of the hunting ban, says the Department of Fisheries, Forestry, and Agriculture, is to prevent the complete loss of the George River caribou and to allow the herd to recover so Indigenous communities can practice caribou-related traditional activities without jeopardizing the sustainability of the herd for future generations.
