A part of the Souther Selkirk caribou herd moves through the Selkirk Mountains in November 2005.

(Garry Beaudry/AP)

At a Glance

The last known wild caribou in the lower 48 has been placed into captivity.Biologist from British Columbia captured the female in hopes to introduce her and two males to a more stable herd in Canada.The future of wild caribou in the contiguous United States remains uncertain.

The last known wild caribou in the lower 48 has been placed into captivity, creating the possibility that the contiguous United States might lose its caribou forever.

A team of biologists from British Columbia captured the wild female, , in Canada's Selkirk Mountains on January 14, 2019, according to a report in Science.

The capture comes as an eleventh-hour effort to save endangered mountain caribou herds. The captured female was the last surviving member of the Southern Selkirks herd, a herd that in April 2018 saw one of its last three members killed by a cougar and the other vanish due to a malfunctioning tracking collar.

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Biologists plan to keep the female in a pen near Revelstoke, British Columbia, with two other males brought in from the South Purcell herd for about a month to gain weight , British Columbian biologist Leo Degroot told the Spokesman-Review.

“This is sort of a stopping point to see how they are doing,” said Degroot.

The plan is to introduce a member of the local herd — the Columbia North caribou herd — to let the trio get to know a member of the group they'll be joining.

“Caribou are like cattle, deer or elk or whatever,” Degroot said. “They are very social animals and have a pecking order.”

After the meet, the three will be placed into the entire herd with hopes that they'll be accepted.

What remains to be seen is whether or not wild caribou will ever be found in the lower 48 again after the move. The idea of transplanting caribou back into near the B.C.-U.S. border isn't being ruled out, , biologists told the CBC.

In contrast to the contiguous United States' dwindling population, , according to the state's department of fish and game.