“The decline in caribou numbers happened long before wolves came to the stage,” said Suzanne Asha Stone, senior northwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife, who pointed out that hunting, poaching, and habitat loss were the initial causes of the caribou population crash. “You have to address the root causes first and tackle those if you want a long-term recovery of a species.” She said eliminating wolves may slow a further decline, but it would be unlikely to lead to a caribou baby boom. Science backs her up. A study published this past November in the Canadian Journal of Zoology found that the wolf hunt in Alberta stabilized caribou numbers there but did not result in a population increase. Researchers found that long-term habitat restoration—requiring as long as 30 years—would be necessary to boost caribou numbers in Alberta. The caribou’s habitat there has been degraded by oil and gas development and industrial logging takepart/article/2015/01/21/canada-wants-save-rare-caribou-killing-another-struggling-species
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 14:31:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015