Quebec to send threatened woodland caribou to zoo for protection

The Quebec government is moving the few remaining woodland caribou in itsVal-d'Or region to azoo 400 kilometres away in an effort to save the herd.

Between 6,000 and 9,000 of the threatened animalremain in the province, but the number near Val-d'Orin northwestern Quebec has dwindled to about 15.

On Friday, Quebec's Forest, Wildlife and Parks Minister LucBlanchettecalled the decision "exceptional." He said the goal is to protect and ensure the survival of the herd.

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Their new home will be theSaint-Flicienzoo, a 485 hectare complex where large North American mammals wander free. The zoo is located north of Quebec City near Lac Saint-Jean.

The ministry hopes sending the caribouto the zoowould serve to educate the public about their plight.

Fifty caribouarenecessarily to ensure thestability of a herd, says the ministry, but theVal-d'Orherd has not had that many since 1983.

'There won't be enough zoos'

The announcement comes the day after the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society said it would take federal environment minister to court over what is said is a failure to protect the woodland caribou's habitat.

The group's executive director for Quebec, Alain Branchaud, said the provincial government is giving up hope on restoring the Val-d'Or herd in the wild.

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The situation the caribouface shows that time is of the essence for all 34,000that remain in Canada, he said.

"It shows that we need to act rapidly, otherwise they go to a point of no return," he told CBC's Quebec AM.

"If we don't act for other herds, and if we don't protect their habitat, the same thing will happen. There won't be enough zoos," he said.

The group Action Borale de l'Abitibi-Tmiscamingueis denouncing the move. The group's president Henri Jacob said the animals are used to living in a large territory, and worries about the impact of living in a more confined area.

He also pointed out that many caribou died at the same zoo several years ago.

Guy Bourgeois, the MNA for Abitibi-Est, hopes moving the animalswill allow them to flourish in a protected space.

"We can't see this departure as an ending, but as the beginning of a new chapter," he said in a news conference Friday.