Reindeer crossing attracts hundreds
Herd owner worried about all-weather road in future years
Sarah Ladik
Northern News Services
Thursday, April 7, 2016
INUVIK
What better way to spend a blustery Sunday afternoon than watching thousands of animals cross the tundra?
Reindeer make a turn after crossing the ice road to move towards a bluff on their summer grazing grounds in the afternoon April 3. - Sarah Ladik/NNSL photos
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Hundreds of residents and visitors certainly agreed April 3, taking part in the annual reindeer crossing at Bar C on the ice road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk. An estimated 3,000 animals made the crossing at a punctual 12:05 p.m. April 3. While the tradition is a beloved one, this may very well be the last time it takes quite this form.
"This may happen again next year, but I don't think there will be an ice road after that," said herd owner Lloyd Binder.
"They would have to cross the all-weather road, but we've had trouble doing it this year."
Binder said that the herd's drivers had tried to convince the animals to cross the Inuvik to Tuk Highway, still under construction, but that the bare ground had them balking.
In the end, the herders had to bring them to a gap where the road is as yet unfinished, before then taking them to Bar C to cross the ice road. Binder said the reindeer are always reluctant to cross that as well, because the bare ice makes them cautious.
But they did make the crossing, as they do every year.
"I was quite pleased," said Binder afterwards.
"Considering the weather - the visibility wasn't great. The numbers were lower, but there were more people from outside, more tourists, even a few film crews."
The event was indeed a magnet for tourists and media, with crews from CBC and a German television channel out in force to record not just the reindeer, but the people gathered to watch them.
Kylik Kisoun Taylor, owner-operator at Tundra North Tours, brought along eight visitors and a film crew for a CBC show about Northerners.
"I really hope to be able to make this part of a tour," he said.
"To get people out on snowmobiles with the herd, right up close. Nothing is more beautiful than watching the reindeer cross the tundra out here."
This year, he said, served as something of a dry run for future exploits. He and a few others had spent a week out with the herd on the land, making sure all the equipment worked and learning the process.
It was a good year for it, according to Binder, who said the event cracked the top two he has ever seen, despite a blizzard wreaking a small amount of havoc on things like parking and travel out to the site.
He said safety is always a primary concern for him and was pleased to see no one trying to cross the stretch of road where the reindeer were to cross.
"You can't take a semi-domesticated herd and bring them up close to people and vehicles," he said.
"The feedback I heard was all good, people seemed to really enjoy it."
