Ottawa – More than 20 Nunavik caribou females will wear a camera around their necks for three months next summer to try to explain why 40% of their young do not survive.
The researchers approach the beasts by helicopter and throw a net with a suitable rifle to catch them and install the famous camera. The technique is well proven, “says Steeve Côté, a professor in the Department of Biology at Université Laval and director of Caribou Ungava.
The cameras should help to obtain more accurate data on the survival of young people, from birth to weaning in the fall. These data, coupled with data on the survival of adult females, will provide a better understanding of population fluctuations.
It should be noted that due to the very large decline in the population of the species, caribou hunting will be prohibited for the Rivière aux Feuilles herd as of February 1, 2018 for an indefinite period.
Erin VanDyke lives on her family farm and has more than 35 years of hands-on experience with the use of livestock guard dogs for predator control. On their farm, Jan and her family use corgis as herding dogs and have raised Shetland sheep, Fainting goats, Morgan and Trakehner horses, and historic breeds of chickens and turkeys. Erin is also an active beekeeper.