REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION 



Reindeer 



Location of 

 Nucleus Herd 



Caribou 



Domestication of 

 Barren Land 

 Caribou 



Soutliampton 

 Island 



Ice Setting 

 to Mainland 



Other Islands in 

 Hudson Bay 



Southern 

 Baffins Land 



Wolves 



The establishment of a herd of reindeer in the Arctic is 

 quite feasible and the best place for the introduction of a nucleus 

 herd would be on one of the islands in Hudson bay, preferably 

 Coats island. 



This island is about sixty miles long, the feed is excellent, 

 there are no wolves there, and on the north side plenty of walrus 

 can be obtained for blubber and food if Esquimaux are employed 

 as herders. There is already a considerable number of Barren 

 Land caribou there. These should be reduced to a small number 

 and the calves caught and put in with the reindeer. 



I am slightly familiar with the Lapland reindeer: they are 

 for all practical purposes identical, as far as I know, with the 

 Arctic caribou. I have known at least one successful instance 

 of domestication. The only animals which might prey on tame 

 reindeer on Coats island are the Polar bears, which are numerous 

 on Coats island though they very rarely are able to kill caribou. 

 Polar bear are easy to kill and would soon abandon a place 

 where they were frequently hunted; a few Esquimaux dogs 

 would be necessary for this work and would have to be trained 

 not to hunt reindeer; this presents some difficulty, but it is 

 feasible. 



Southampton island would be another possible reindeer 

 ground, but the caribou are fairly numerous there and would 

 cause some losses by reindeer joining them; also there are wolves 

 there. 



Rowes Welcome — on native reports — freezes and the ice 

 sets to the mainland about every other year. In 1916, 1917, 

 1918 the ice did not set there to my own knowledge. There are 

 other islands in Hudson bay, e.g., Salisbury, Nottingham, 

 Mansell, Charles, might be suitable for reindeer, the first two 

 are hilly and broken, also natives frequently winter there. 



The Hudson's Bay Company have, I am told, recently put 

 an out station on Coats island; before this no natives went there 

 to stay. 



The expenses of experimentation with reindeer on Coats 

 island could be largely defrayed by importing Northern Pacific 

 blue fox there and allowing them to increase; there are many 

 Arctic fox there and they seem to do well. If this were done it 

 would have to be made a Government reserve. I know of no 

 place where experiments in domestication of Barren Land 

 caribou could be better carried on. 



The establishment of reindeer herds on Baffin's Land 

 presents several difficulties. Caribou are very numerous round 

 Lake Nettiling and in the interior of Baffins' Land in summer. 

 Of late years large herds have come down to the northwest 

 shores of Cumberland gulf in winter, always followed by wolves, 

 for these pests live on the caribou; wolves were numerous at 

 the above named locality last winter. The risk of loss, both 

 from reindeer mingling with caribou and becoming wild, and 

 from wolves would be great. 



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