Porcupine caribou population in Yukon and Alaska globally significant: biologist
WHITEHORSE — The population of the Porcupine caribou in Yukon and Alaska is growing compared with caribou herds elsewhere in the world, a Yukon government biologist says.
Mike Suitor said that of the 13 barren ground caribou herds across Canada’s North, the Porcupine is the only population of caribou that has increased, likely due to favourable environmental conditions.
The Yukon government announced Wednesday that an estimated 218,000 Porcupine caribou had been counted in Yukon, up from 198,000 since the last count in 2013.
That’s up from 169,000 animals in 2010, resulting in an annual growth rate of 3.7 per cent over the last seven years, the government said in a release.