Gray Ghosts, the Last Caribou in the Lower 48 States, Are 'Functionally Extinct'

"Logging, road building, unsustainable recreation, oil and gas development, and mining to continue in mountain caribou habitat". The battle to save the so-called gray ghosts — the only herd of caribou in the lower 48 states — has been lost.

"The functional loss of this herd is the legacy of decades of government mismanagement across caribou range," said Mark Hebblewhite, a wildlife biologist at the University of Montana. British Columbia "has permitted logging, road building, unsustainable recreation, oil and gas development, and mining to continue in mountain caribou habitat," he added. "The tragic outcome was very predictable."