08/21/2026
The Chena Outdoor reindeer herd kindly asks that you all take a moment to listen to a recent podcast with former caribou biologist Jim Dau. Jim discusses caribou numbers with a focus on the Western Arctic Caribou herd. There’s been an alarming worldwide trend of declining caribou populations, with migratory caribou populations showing a 65% decline over the last two to three decades.
You can watch the interview on YouTube or listen to it in podcast form.
To try and grab your attention, we’ll share some bullet points:
The George River caribou herd has gone from a peak of over 800,000 animals in the early 1990s to 7,200 in 2022.
The Western Arctic herd went from its peak of about 490,000 in 2003 to a most recent count of 121,000 animals.
Here’s the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/GWxwvh3blkE?is=XB1VBS1HmfqrfWih
Podcast name: MeatEater Conservation Episode 486: Future Wild- Are the Caribou Going the Way of the America Buffalo?
