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MONTREAL — Quebec’s decision to allow a small herd of caribou to die off because it would be too expensive to save them amounts to an abandonment of its reponsibility to protect wildlife, environmental activists said Friday.

The criticism came a day after Forests and Wildlife Minister Luc Blanchette announced it would be too costly to try to save the Val-d’Or caribou herd, whose habitat in northwestern Quebec has been decimated by logging and human activity.

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In a video capsule published on his Facebook page, Blanchette estimated it would cost $76 million over 50 years to try to save the herd, which numbered only 18 animals when it was last counted in 2016.

“These necessary investments are too large (when measured against) the probability of success which turns out to be very weak,” he said in the video.

“The situation is sad, but we have to be reasonable. We believe it is better to put our efforts on the other 7,000 caribou of Quebec, where we still have good chances of success.”