Quebec's Plan To Save An Endangered Woodland Caribou Herd Through Captivation

The Quebec government has taken an unorthodox, and controversial, approach to protecting an endangered herd of woodland caribou.

The herd's habitat is found outside the city of Val d'Or. Recently, the herd's population has faced intense pressure from logging, hunting, and ATV'ing. These activities have increasingly encroached upon, and compromised, the habitat of the herd. Currently only 15 members of the once prolific herd remain, though caribou populations in other parts of the province appear more stable.

The Quebec government's solution? To round up the animals and transport them to a zoo, where they will be contained in an enclosure that is four square kilometres in size.