(Porcupine caribou majestically standing its ground against the dangerous oil drilling operations)
Authors: Matt Frey (Animal Science), Cameron Kononitz (Food Science), Jess Sullivan (Animal Science), and Hannah McCollough (Earth Systems)
In 1980’s, Porcupine Caribou, a herd native to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), held its status as the 6th largest caribou herd in North America and it was projected to continue its vast growth (Clough, et al., 1987). However, those predictions couldn’t have been more wrong. In 1989, it was estimated that the Porcupine Caribou had a population size of 178,000, but since then they have been on a gradual decline dropping by 3.6% yearly from 1989 and 1998 and and show no indication of stopping. In 2001, it was estimated that there were only 123,000 caribou remaining (Griffith, et al., 2002). Continue Reading