Yukon conservation officers are investigating two separate incidents of caribou being shot and the carcasses left behind to rot.
In one case, four bulls were shot along the Dempster Highway near the Northwest Territories boundary and appear to have been intentionally abandoned, said conservation officer Shawn Hughes.
In another, a cow and calf were shot and killed in Old Crow in northern Yukon, but Hughes said they may have been accidentally wounded.
Hughes said that officers are asking for the public's help in both cases.
Officers began investigating the Dempster Highway incident last week after hunters called in with concerns that as many as 12 caribou had been shot and left behind.
Four mature bulls were found within 300 metres of each other, with the closest to the highway being about 600 metres off the road, Hughes said.
"You could see them from the highway," he said. "It would be very difficult for somebody to say they didn't know they were there."
Subsequent efforts to find more abandoned caribou were hampered by blizzard conditions, he said.
Hughes said the caribou were not touched and there are no signs they were accidentally wounded. Three appear to have died of a single gunshot, while the fourth may have been hit by two bullets, he said.
The officer said the incident probably occurred on Oct. 13, as large numbers of migrating Porcupine caribou reached the highway on Oct. 12 for the first time in several years.
There were dozens of vehicles parked along the roadside that day, he said.
Hughes said the incident in Old Crow involves a cow and calf found dead on the Thanksgiving weekend. Each had been killed by a single shot, likely on the morning of Oct. 9, he said.
He said officers believe the pair may have been wounded and got away. There was a case where wounded caribou were seen and they may have been those animals.
(Whitehorse Star)
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.