NW Territory Barren-Ground Caribou Numbers Fall 40 - 86% In Ten Years - Reuters

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OTTAWA - The caribou population in Canada's vast Northwest Territories is falling rapidly and the increasingly warm climate could slow the animals' chances of recovery, a wildlife specialist said on Friday.

Herds of barren-ground caribou -- which for centuries have been a crucial source of food and furs for local aboriginals -- have dropped by between 40 and 86 percent over the last 10 years. The largest single herd fell from 472,000 animals in 1986 to 128,000 in 2006 and is still declining. "The level of concern is very high in the Northwest Territories," said Ray Case of the territories' environment and natural resources ministry.

Case -- blaming natural factors such as varying climate, insect levels, the amount of food available, and the number of predators -- said the caribou population had traditionally risen and fallen over a 30-year cycle.

But he told Reuters that warmer winters and easier access for hunters to the ranges that the caribou cover make it harder to say what will happen to the herds in years to come. "That doesn't suggest global warming is driving this but certainly there is concern that things are changing ... we do have some uncertainty about what the future holds as far as climate and as far as human activity," he said.

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