Yukon bans caribou hunt near Dempster Highway

The Yukon government has imposed an emergency hunting ban on caribou near the Dempster Highway.

The Porcupine Caribou herd thatnormally travels through the area, has moved off and animals from two smaller herds have moved in.

Environment Department spokesperson, Nancy Campbell, says normal hunting pressure is not a problem for the Porcupine herd asit numbers in the hundreds of thousands of animals.

But the ban was imposed to protect the smaller herds now in the area, she says.

"People who normally go up the highway expecting to hunt Porcupine caribou, this year they won't find any Porcupine caribou," she said. "The caribou they will see actually belong to the Hart and Forty Mile herds and we don't want them hunting them because the Forty Mile herd is in recovery and the Hart River herd is pretty small."

The ban is effective immediately and will last until next summer. But Campbell says the ban could be lifted if the smaller herds moveon and the Porcupine herd returns.