A careful kind of matchmaking will guide one last effort to restore the disappearing herds of forest caribou in Jasper National Park.
Because the park’s remaining herds are considered too small to survive, Parks Canada plans to capture the females — along with a small roster of bulls — and breed them in captivity.
The hope is that each rutting season, nature will take its course in the facility’s breeding pens — albeit with some human intervention.
Livestock would be critical to ensuring the health of the expanding herd, said David Argument, resource conservation officer at Jasper National Park.
With so few caribou left, the way the animals are harvested from the wild and mated in captivity must be carefully managed.
“We will keep what is known as a stud book. Who is related to whom? Who are the parents of each offspring?” Argument said. “So we can monitor that genetic diversity and make sure we don’t end up in an inbreeding situation.”
The $25 million project will permanently house up to 40 females and five males in a one-square-kilometer facility surrounded by an electric fence.
Public consultations on the facility continue until September. A final decision is expected this fall.
If Parks Canada approves the plan, construction on the facility near Athabasca Falls, about 30 kilometers south of Jasper, would begin this winter. The first calves will be born in the spring of 2025 and will be released to the Tonquin herd the following year.
Male yearlings will also be released, but the success of the program will depend on females being able to give birth to a calf each year, Argument said.
Some females born in captivity will remain at the facility to expand the breeding stock.
“The number of men is not that important,” he said. “A male caribou can have a harem of cows.”
It is hoped that the captive breeding program can produce about 20 calves a year – enough to bring the herds to sustainable levels within a decade.
The first priority will be saving the Tonquin herd, building it from the brink of extinction to a self-sustaining population of 200.
Breeding animals for the conservation program will be obtained from various southern mountain caribou herds across the Rockies, Argument said.
Only a select few could be taken from the source herds. Even the healthiest populations in the region are dangerously small, and their depopulation could threaten the herds.
We need to make sure we bring caribou into this program that fits the Jasper environment. – David Argument
There are also challenges around the supply of the necessary breeding stock. Captured caribou must have similar behavioral and genetic traits to animals in local herds.
This would ensure that captive-bred cubs would bond easily with their wild counterparts and have the right survival instincts, Argument said.
“We need to make sure we’re putting caribou into this program that fits the environment in Jasper so it doesn’t end up being caribou just trying to do the wrong thing,” he said.
Southern mountain caribou found in the park have different migration patterns, moving between old-growth forests and high alpine areas.
“The last thing we want is caribou that can come down to the valley floor in the winter for example, which some caribou populations do,” Argument said.
“If a survival strategy works somewhere else, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will work here.”
Calves born under the program will be released back into the wild as yearlings. (Wildlife Infometrics)
Two of the five documented caribou herds in Banff and Jasper National Parks are now extinct.
The last five members of the Banff herd died in an avalanche in April 2009. Having not been seen since 2018, the Malin herd is now considered extinct.
The Tonquin herd is estimated at about 45 and the Brazeau herd is estimated at less than 15 caribou. With approximately nine breeding females remaining at Tonquin and three at Brazeau, none are expected to grow.
If the conservation facility is approved, all remaining members of the Brazeau herd will be taken into captivity.
The À la Pêche herd on the northern border of Jasper National Park, with 160 caribou, is likely to serve as the breeding herd for the breeding program.
Parks Canada is also in talks to remove caribou from wild herds in British Columbia, Argument said.
“Tragic but necessary”
The proposal is an extreme intervention, said Carolyn Campbell, a conservation specialist with the Alberta Wildlife Association. But she said desperate measures were needed.
Parks Canada has taken steps to help caribou populations, such as limiting public access to winter grazing grounds. Those changes came too late, Campbell said.
Breeding alone is not enough, she said. Parks Canada must ensure that yearlings released from captivity – and those born into the wild – are adequately protected.
Conserving the park’s remaining habitats is critical, she said.
“This is a tragic but necessary interim measure to keep caribou where they belong,” Campbell said.
Argument said Jasper National Park must take swift and decisive action to protect the species.
This may be the last chance to preserve the iconic species in the Rocky Mountain landscape, he said.
“I think that’s incredibly critical. The caribou is an integral part of Jasper’s very identity,” he said.
“And the numbers are so low right now that we don’t have much time to spare.”
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