More Caribou To Be Transplanted To Selkirks

As many as 16 more endangered mountain caribou will be moved this month from Canada to northeastern Washington in an attempt to rebuild the population in the Selkirk Mountains, state officials said Wednesday in Spokane.

It’s the second transplant in an ongoing effort by federal, state and Canadian wildlife agencies to restore caribou to the Selkirks in northeastern Washington, North Idaho and southern British Columbia, said Madonna Luers, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The program has been slowed by high mortality rates. Of the 19 caribou transplanted to northeastern Washington last spring, only seven are still roaming the area, Luers said.

At least three new calves were born, she said.

Ten of the animals apparently were killed by cougars or bears, although only four kills have been definitively documented. One animal apparently died in a fall, and another was killed by a poacher who is still being sought.

The caribou to be transplanted this month will be captured in the Kamloops and Prince George regions of central British Columbia, where populations are stable or increasing, Luers said. The animals transplanted last year came from the same area.

The caribou will be captured in nets fired from guns mounted on a helicopter.

Wildlife agents will place radio telemetry collars on the animals so they can be tracked when they are released in the Colville National Forest in Pend Oreille County.

Caribou populations were reduced by habitat loss and over-hunting early in the century, and today the animal is the most endangered large mammal in the United States, Luers said. The Selkirk population is the last left in the nation.