I had no idea that Idaho had woodland caribou, period. I do recall that, at one point, northern Minnesota had a woodland caribou heard that traveled the BWCA and they had, at one point, tried a similar dump-and-hump conservation strategy to save the herd. But this is the first I know of an "ongoing" strategy in the continental US.
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news...nRNxpVKceEWOU9Oj6PjiQcwkDS2ULtgXVwKZtrdR8O9MU
Here's a really telling section, one that you miss without actually reading the article. Good old activists slitting the throats of the animals they love, once again!
As the clear-cuts grew back, they attracted deer. Mountain lions and wolves followed and preyed on the caribou, which doesn’t kick as hard as a moose and didn’t have the flight response of deer.
But as late as 2009, the Selkirk population stood at 46 animals. And it was growing. Then three packs of wolves moved in and set up shop where the caribou lived, said Chip Corsi, Fish and Game regional supervisor in Coeur d’Alene.
British Columbia began shooting the wolves from the air to save the caribou, attracting strong protests from animal rights groups. Corsi gave the Canadians permission to fly into Idaho if necessary, but they never did.
“For me, it truly is a bummer,” Corsi said. “We had some responsibility as others did. But I don’t know what we would do differently.”
In March 2018, biologists could find only three remaining caribou cows in the Selkirks, said Leo DeGroot, a biologist for British Columbia Ministry of Forestry. One was killed by a mountain lion, and the collar on another stopped transmitting.
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news...nRNxpVKceEWOU9Oj6PjiQcwkDS2ULtgXVwKZtrdR8O9MU
Here's a really telling section, one that you miss without actually reading the article. Good old activists slitting the throats of the animals they love, once again!
As the clear-cuts grew back, they attracted deer. Mountain lions and wolves followed and preyed on the caribou, which doesn’t kick as hard as a moose and didn’t have the flight response of deer.
But as late as 2009, the Selkirk population stood at 46 animals. And it was growing. Then three packs of wolves moved in and set up shop where the caribou lived, said Chip Corsi, Fish and Game regional supervisor in Coeur d’Alene.
British Columbia began shooting the wolves from the air to save the caribou, attracting strong protests from animal rights groups. Corsi gave the Canadians permission to fly into Idaho if necessary, but they never did.
“For me, it truly is a bummer,” Corsi said. “We had some responsibility as others did. But I don’t know what we would do differently.”
In March 2018, biologists could find only three remaining caribou cows in the Selkirks, said Leo DeGroot, a biologist for British Columbia Ministry of Forestry. One was killed by a mountain lion, and the collar on another stopped transmitting.