It only looks like blood: Red marks on caribou a tracking device

Relax, Newfoundland wildlife lovers. Bright red marks near a caribou's butt don't necessarily mean the animal has been shot, attacked by predators or injured some other way.

On the province's west coast, the marks mean the animals have been spray painted by the team counting caribou in the region.

The Department of Fisheries and Land Resources is doing field surveys to figure out how many caribou there are in the areas between Deer Lake and St. Anthony, eastward to the Baie Verte Peninsula, on the Gregory Plateau, and in the Adies Lake and Hampden Downs areas near White Bay.

John Blake, a director in the wildlife division, said researchers have been marking the caribou, one by one, usinghelicopters.

The aircraft make low passes, and staff use a long, compressed-air wand to put paint on the animals.

Blake saidthe paint is harmless.

"As caribou lose their winter coat, in the spring, the red marking will also disappear from the animals," he said.

Numbers declining

The department estimates there are about 29,000 caribou on the entire island portion of the province, down from about 31,000a couple of years ago.

Blake said there were about 7,000animals on the west coast when a survey was done five years ago.

He expects to see that number drop, partly because of a suspected decline on the Northern Peninsula.

Staff hope to mark 1,000 to 1,500 animals to help with their estimates.

"Having the best knowledge we can about the status of the population helps us to manage them," saidBlake.

The data helps the department set hunting quotas, and make decisions about land management and environmental assessments.

Blake said the western Newfoundland surveys are expected to be completed by the end of March. The results will be publishedin the 2018 provincial hunting guide.