Mass Death at Two River Crossings

Thousands of caribou drown in the Quebec wilderness

Each fall, as their mating season approaches, an immense gathering of caribou from northeastern Canada embarks on a migratory trek. Nearly 400,000 strong, the herd pushes its way from Labrador to winter grazing lands near Hudson Bay. This year many of the animals did not make it. At least 9,000 of them, and perhaps twice that number, drowned last week at two swollen river crossings in the remote wilderness of northern Quebec.

Along the banks of the Caniapiscau and Koksoak rivers, where the caribou were overwhelmed by rushing water, bloated carcasses piled atop one another. A sizable number of animals were swept over a waterfall and drowned. Some environmentalists called the deaths "a major catastrophe." The question remained: Why had the rivers risen to deadly levels? Eskimo leaders and others blamed Hydro-Quebec, the province's government-owned utility. They charged that it had allowed too much water to spill over the dam that controls the flow of the two rivers. The Eskimos, or Innuit, as they are called in Canada, use the meat of the free-roaming caribou for food, the pelts for clothing and bedding, and the bones for utensils.

Hydro-Quebec said the river conditions resulted from the unusually heavy September rains in the region, and that the volume of river flow had been reduced by the construction of its dam. "Our position," said Hydro-Quebec Spokesman Jean-Guy Ouimet, "is that we are spilling less water than nature would."

In the early 1970s, the Innuit and the Cree Indians, who also dwell in the area, brought suit in Canadian courts to halt construction of the $15 billion James Bay hydroelectric-power project, charging that it would result in damage to their lands. In 1973 the Quebec Superior Court ruled in the plaintiffs' favor. But after a one-week suspension, work on the immense undertaking was resumed when the Quebec Court of Appeal reversed the earlier ruling.

To protect migrating caribou, representatives of the Eskimos asked years ago that Hydro-Quebec build a barrier to divert the animals from the crossings where last week's drownings occurred. Now, with as many as 25,000 caribou still headed for the crossings, the Quebec government is hastily arranging for a mile-long a fence to be built in the area. Authorities are discussing the use of hired planes to generate a sufficient amount of noise to divert the migrating herd.

At week's end, with 2 concern mounting that the I decaying remains of the " caribou carcasses could pollute the river system, a Canadian cleanup operation was clearing the freezing streams. Antlers were chopped off by Eskimo crew members, and the dead caribou, some weighing as much as 400 Ibs., were tied together in bunches to be airlifted to higher ground. Some carcasses were destined for mass burial, but others will be left for predators to feed on Says Canadian Biologist Alexander Banfield: "This is going to be a happy winter for the wolves."