Concern about Declining Numbers or Condition of Caribou

Roseanne Dan Waghiyi of Stebbins noted, "We have reindeer all mixed up with caribou. They're just starving and dying, even inside the trees there is overgrazing. A lot of caribou among those reindeers. There are no more plants - it's overgrazed because they're mixed up with caribou. You get used to seeing both every day."

Alfred Adams of Koyuk reported, "And on the caribou, I was going to bring that up awhile ago, A few years ago they use to go down south through Koyuk and Shaktolik and that way. Now last winter the small caribou had to go through the Seward Peninsula. They take a different route every year. Maybe because of the moss. They follow the feed. I think there was even caribou past Nome even. There was more caribou than before on Seward Peninsula last winter than before. They use to mostly go down that way. Long ago though there were no caribou. About maybe 20 years ago. We use to have to go way out inland to go hunt. They migrate but they take different route every year. About 20 years ago there was no caribou coming this way at home. Now they are right near the village. We use to have to go way out, about 3 or 4 days with dog team to hunt caribou. But my grandma said long ago they were coming like that, like they are now. That was long ago."

Ferderika Stalker of Point Lay observed, "I hunt year round and I've noticed more and more caribou are sick. We don't know why there are illnesses. We don't get caribou around Pt. Lay often now. Sometimes we don't have meat the whole year. It took a while for the store to catch up on their groceries. Sometimes we need to go almost up to Wainwright and they're getting further and further away.

Kenneth Toovak, Sr. of Barrow observed, "Even the caribou, recently the collars that they have put on were making noise. And I was taken along when they went out to examine them. When the caribou gets fat, the collar gets tight and that's how one of the caribou had died because the collar had gotten too tight around his neck."