N.W.T. wildlife officers investigating more poaching of Bathurst caribou
Nine more protected caribou have been killed
The N.W.T.'s environment department says its officers are investigating the deaths of nine more caribou from the critically threatened Bathurst herd.
On Tuesday, the department said in a news release that officers suspect the caribou were harvested illegally within a zone that's supposed to protect the herd from hunters.
Most of the herd's population has been wiped out over the past 30 years, with the herd shrinking from about 420,000 animals in the mid-1980s to just 6,240 in 2021.
The department says it's also looking into possible wastage of caribou meat northeast of Ekati Diamond Mine.
"The good news is that most hunters on the winter road are harvesting safely and respectfully out on-the-land, and we are all working together to support the conservation and recovery of threatened barren-ground caribou herds," the department stated.