Logging and oil production left no chance for a caribou in the USA

Reindeers live not only in the north of Eurasia and adjacent islands, but also in North America. But on this continent there are not many indigenous peoples who are engaged in breeding reindeer, and therefore the number of domesticated animals there is much less than in Eurasia. But with the wild caribou, as deer are called on the American continent, not everything is so safe. Due to climate change and the economic activities of people, reindeers no longer live in the territories of the main part of the USA, but remain only in Alaska. Recently, environmentalists reported the capture of the last reindeer in the region bordering Canada.

As early as the end of the 19th century, caribou were common inhabitants of all the northern states of the USA. Such deer were part of the boreal population and inhabited the massifs of coniferous and mixed forests. But the country's population grew, and economic development greatly transformed local landscapes. The greatest damage was caused by logging and development of hydrocarbon deposits, which significantly reduced the habitat of the caribou. More or less large herds remained only in the states of Idaho and Washington. In recent decades, there has been a steady decline in the number of caribou in the United States, which was aggravated by interaction with competing species - deer from the southern regions.