Caribou article

[FAAFO]

Caribou herds in Arctic Alaska tundra areas are on opposite trends

The contrast between the declining Western Arctic herd and the thriving Porcupine herd is correlated to different levels of shrub growth, a product of climate change.

www.adn.com

Interesting article thought many would like to read.

 

[Mvaughan]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Jackal7]

Interesting read. Thx.

 

[duckcarver]

Thank you.

 

[arctichunting]

Wonder if WACH bou aren’t just walking over to porcupine herd


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[Larry Bartlett]

Not likely Arctic. Been no collared subjects crossing the Haul Rd to reach and mingle with the Porcupine Herd. There is, however, evidence that some mingling has occurred with the Teshekpuk Herd, but limited.

There also are no reports of observed mass death (bones and such) to support some abnormal disease process or winter kill events. It has been documented that an estimated 75-80% of caribou test positive for brucellosis, but this toxin usually doesn't kill the animal.

The herd keeps dwindling by roughly 10-15K animals per year. Comparatively suspected local harvest (unreported) ranges 10,000-15,000 caribou each year. I'm no math wiz but HELLO? Could locals be responsible for this mystery, at least to a measurable and sufficient totality of circumstances? Yes. You want to count all those missing and unreported caribou, search the meat cellars in the communities from Barrow, Kivalina, Noatak and Kotz, then up to the Kobuk villages for a looksee.

Biologists were stumped in the 1990s the same way when the Andreafsky Herd started to decline. There in the late 80s and gone by late 90s. Locals wiped 'em out completely before science and management could respond. Even subsistence use needs to be checked hard when populations show crisis building.