In late January, the last two female mountain caribou from the Purcell and South Selkirk herds were captured and transferred to Revelstoke, BC, to protect them from predation. The herds are now functionally extinct – three males in the Southern Purcells mountains are all that remains.
Twenty years ago, there were under a hundred caribou in the Southeast Kootenays, and alarm bells were ringing, but not heeded. Habitat loss from logging and unregulated recreation continued, ensuring the herd’s demise.
Click here for the article in PDF format.