Quebec Government Not Publishing Caribou Locations

The Government of Quebec is no longer publishing the location of the George River Caribou Herd in Labrador.

The Quebec Government previously published telemetry maps which the show specific location of the herd.

John Blake is the Director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Environment’s Wildlife Division.

He says that during the 2009 hunting season, they received direction to stop publishing the caribou’s location on their website.

The maps allowed for people to find the caribou very easily.

Many of the caribou fixed with the radio collars were being harvested.

The collars were used to track the caribou.

With the recent findings of the dramatic reduction of the size of the herd, the likelihood of the collared caribou being harvested has greatly increased.

Blake says not publishing the location of the caribou in Labrador will likely reduce the number of caribou harvested, especially collared caribou.

The government will continue to provide general information about the herd’s migration and movement patterns.

But the specific location of the herd is no longer being provided.