April 5, 2008
He’s furry, he’s almost 2.5 meters tall, and he has antlers.
Meet CaribouMan. The furry mascot was at the Forks Saturday afternoon to educate people about his habitat, the Boreal Forest.
The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society says in Canada 50 per cent of the forest has been depleted, making the woodland caribou a threatened species.
Without proper education they fear the forests will continue to disappear.
“Industrial mining, logging, hydro projects, road networks—fundamentally we are not protesting those particular projects,” the organization’s Ron Thiessen told CTV News. “However traditionally, and what is still happening now is that, those projects are not being planned with the environment in mind.”
There are between 1,800 to 3100 caribou in Manitoba.
To learn more about CaribouMan’s cross-Canada tour or to sign an online petition to help protect the animals, visit caribouandyou.ca.