It is hardly to be expected that Black Bears (_Ursus americanus_ subsp.)
commit any depredations on adult, able-bodied Caribou unless under very
exceptional circumstances. Since they do not normally venture to an
appreciable distance into the Barren Grounds, their contacts with
Caribou are mainly in the forested zone. For an untold period in the
past there has been a very interesting tripartite relationship between
Bears, Caribou, and Caribou-eater Chipewyans about the south end of
Nueltin Lake. For information concerning it I am indebted to Charles
Schweder. The Indians of that area have been in the habit of killing
large numbers of Caribou, especially on the spring and fall migrations,
and leaving many of the bodies, or parts of the bodies, out in the
“bush.” The Bears have become accustomed to taking advantage of the
situation, especially, perhaps, in the matter of fattening up for
hibernation. This probably resulted in a certain concentration of the
animals thereabouts. But of late years the local native population has
seriously declined by reason of fatal illness and removal to other
parts. Consequently, as Charles Schweder expressed it, there are no
longer enough people there to feed the Bears! Three of the Chipewyans
reported in late October, 1947, that they had lost a good many of their
Caribou to the Bears during that season.
This recent change in the food situation about the south end of Nueltin
Lake has apparently resulted in, or at least coincided with, an influx
of Bears in the Windy River area, where they were unknown until 1944.
During the next four years seven Bears were killed locally. The animals
are said to have consumed about 70 Caribou bodies in the fall of 1944,
and about 40 in the fall of 1947 within a few miles of the Windy River
post; thus they became a somewhat serious factor in the human economy of
the area. The Caribou is evidently the chief loser in this curious
relationship, but even the Bear, which may be regarded as the chief
beneficiary, suffers from man’s retaliatory efforts.
_Relations to foxes_
The demand for Arctic Fox furs on the part of the fashionable women of
the world sends the trapper on his winter rounds over the bleak and
bitter Barren Grounds, where he depends upon his autumn kill of Caribou
for sustenance for himself and his dogs as well as for fox bait. It is
thus quite obvious where a large share of the responsibility for the
dwindling numbers of the Caribou lies.
Both Arctic and Red Foxes (_Alopex lagopus innuitus_ and _Vulpes fulva_
subsp.) are among the scavengers that help to consume caribou bodies
that are left unguarded in the wilds. According to Charles Schweder,
foxes of both species seem to follow the Wolves, presumably in the hope
of securing the leavings of their kills.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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