The South Selkirk Caribou also known as the Gray Ghost herd is one of the southernmost caribou in the world and the last to roam into the lower 48 states of the United States. They are quite shy and they have always depended on old growth trees as they feed on lichen, which only grows on old growth trees. Unfortunately, logging in British Columbia has destroyed their habitat and ultimately the species ability to thrive in an area where only small pockets of mature forests exists.
Old growth forests take centuries to grow. “The young forests that grow after logging also promote populations of moose and deer, which in turn promote larger predator populations of wolves and cougars”. The South Selkirk Caribou join the George Mountain herd, the Purcell South herd and the Purcell Central herds in perishing forever from the face of the earth.
In 2009, the herd, the southernmost in North America, had about 50 animals and was declining. Wildlife officials in Canada began a last-ditch effort to protect them by killing wolves, which occasionally preyed on the few caribou that remained.
But the root cause of the extirpation of this herd and the decline of others in Canada is extensive industrial development in British Columbia, experts say.
British Columbia “has permitted logging, road building, unsustainable recreation, oil and gas development, and mining to continue in mountain caribou habitat,” he added. “The tragic outcome was very predictable.”
“The functional loss of this herd is the legacy of decades of government mismanagement across caribou range,” said Mark Hebblewhite, a wildlife biologist at the University of Montana.