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Crawling with Hares
"The hares are much more
plentiful in Ellesmereland [as compared to Greenland],
where the vegetation is richer. The first time
I went hunting there with my friends from Thule,
they suggested that we should get enough fur
[for 'stockings'] to last through several seasons.
I asked them if they really expected that many
hares. 'Many!' they exclaimed with conviction.
'There are so many hares that it looks as if
the ground has lice!' That was their best possible
way of expressing an unlimited supply".
- Freuchen 1961
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 Arctic hares in Quttinirpaaq National Park, Nunavut.
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Populations
Arctic Areas | Newfoundland and Labrador
The total number of Arctic hares (Lepus
arcticus) in Canada
has never been estimated. Also, biologists have not determined
whether Arctic hare populations fluctuate in a common cycle
of low and high numbers, as do snowshoe hares farther south.
Arctic Areas
Because we don't know or understand enough about their movements
in and out of certain areas of the northern islands, we can't
estimate their actual numbers, even though many herds of
more than 100 individuals have been documented. Personnel
at the weather station at Eureka (in Nunavut), reported herds
of hundreds or even thousands of hares milling about near
the station in the 1970s and 1980s, but such numbers have
not been seen in recent years. Groups of hundreds seen in
the 1980s in Quttinirpaaq National Park on northern Ellesmere
Island have also been missing recently.
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A large herd of Arctic hares (Lepus arcticus) at Eureka, Nunavut. |
The importance of Arctic hares is growing, in light of increasing
Arctic tourism and continued traditional hunting by northerners.
Highly visible, they are a popular feature in many parks
and protected areas in the Arctic. Ellesmere Island's Quttinirpaaq
National Park is perhaps the only place in the world where
Arctic hares are a major attraction for photographers and
'extreme' tourists.
Newfoundland and Labrador
On the island of Newfoundland, Arctic hares have likely
never been numerous. Restricted to the open barrens and alpine
mountain areas, they are one of the province's most-threatened
native mammals and few people have seen them. They are classified
as 'uncommon' in the 2004 provincial conservation scheme.
Parks Canada considers them 'rare' on the island and some
biologists suggest that they are endangered.
In Gros Morne National Park, Arctic hares are a key species
and their numbers are closely monitored. Estimates by Parks
Canada put the number of Arctic hares in the Park at 870
in 2000, up from an estimate of 230 in 1997. It is assumed
that the Arctic hare population on the island goes through
a cycle of lows and highs.
In the 1970s, six Arctic hares were captured in southern
Newfoundland and Labrador and released on Brunette Island
off Newfoundland's south coast. They survived and bred and
the population grew to more than 1000 hares. A program of
capture, breeding and release of hares into their former
range on the province's Avalon Peninsula was undertaken in
the 1980s, but none of the releases led to a successful breeding
population.
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Ready for transfer from Brunette Island to mainland Newfoundland, Arctic hares wait in cages near the helicopter that will take them to their new home. |
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