The Reasons
Human activity fragments the forest
As industrial development continues to sprawl further northward, Woodland caribou are disappearing from the Boreal forest. Logging, road-building and other forms of development -- like mining and oil and gas development -- are driving the caribou's decline.
Competitors and predators move in
When a forest is disturbed, and begins to regrow, it provides plenty of food for the woodland caribou's bigger relative: the moose. Moose thrive in new forests, and their increasing numbers eventually attract increasing numbers of their primary predator -- the wolf.
Caribou disappear
Increasing wolf numbers kill off, or extirpate, local populations of woodland caribou in and around disturbed forests.
The effect is slow, insidious and inevitable. In fewer than 20 years, Woodland caribou disappear from disturbed areas -- perhaps forever.
But you can help...