According to the Labradorian, Quebec hunters were prevented from harvesting Labrador caribou near Happy Valley Goose Bay.
The Quebec hunters were going after threatened Mealy Mountains herd.
A group of Innu hunters from the Quebec North Shore were recently prevented from illegally hunting the threatened Mealy Mountains caribou herd in Labrador.
The 10 or so hunters were headed to the Birchy Lakes area, located approximately 150 km away from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, when wildlife officers stopped them.
The incident happened earlier this month.
According to a 2009 publication from the Department of Environment and Conservation, the Mealy Mountains herd was estimated at just 2,500 animals and considered threatened under the provincial Endangered Species Act and the federal Species at Risk Act.
Quebec hunters crossing the Labrador boarder to hunt caribou illegally is a problem that stretches back several years.
Back in 2007, two Quebec men from Pakua Shipi Innu were fined $18,000 each for killing caribou from the Mealy Mountains herd.
Former Labrador wildlife officer, Hollis Yetman, recalls how serious the problem was in the early 2000s, when caribou poaching near the Quebec-Labrador border was common.
Yetman is worried that a few undetected hunts will be all that’s needed to decimate the Mealy Mountains herd and other woodland caribou.