ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- Wildlife authorities in Newfoundland and Labrador are investigating a second case of what they say was illegal caribou hunting in Labrador, according to a government news release.

The hunt took place south of Churchill Falls, N.L., in the central region of Labrador, and the hunters involved were from Quebec, the release from the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture said.

The department had previously confirmed it was investigating another alleged illegal hunt, said to have taken place in late February in southern Labrador, also involving hunters from Quebec. Quebec wildlife officials said today they are aware of that situation and continue to work with officials in Newfoundland and Labrador and in the federal government to ensure the animals are protected.

"In the context of herds and cross-border hunters, vigilance to prevent and put an end to offences committed against wildlife begins with communication between our services," the Quebec agency said in an email.

The NunatuKavut Community Council, an Indigenous group in southern and central Labrador, earlier condemned the first hunt in February.

In an emailed statement Friday, council president Todd Russell called on provincial and federal enforcement agencies to protect the caribou. "We have a responsibility as Inuit, as do other Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, to do all we can to protect the caribou and their habitat," he added.

A federal Environment Department spokeswoman said the department is working with provincial governments and local Indigenous leaders to address the threats to Labrador's caribou populations.

"The government of Canada is concerned about the state of caribou in Canada and the impact that its decline is having on Indigenous peoples and their traditional ways of life," Samantha Bayard said in an email Friday.

Hunting caribou is illegal in Labrador, as its main herds are dwindling. The boreal caribou said to have been hunted in the latest incident are from a herd considered threatened under the Newfoundland and Labrador Endangered Species Act and the federal Species at Risk Act.

Caribou herds in southern Labrador are also protected by the provincial act, while a hunting ban is in place protecting the George River herd, which migrates across the northern part of Labrador.

Hollis Yetman, vice-president of the Labrador Hunting and Fishing Association, said in an interview that not everyone respects the hunting bans. In his experience, if the winter weather is right, teams of hunters will sometimes make the long snowmobile trip out onto the land and hunt the animals.

Yetman, a former Labrador conservation officer, said local, provincial and federal governments, including Indigenous governments and leaders, need to come together and work out a plan that serves everyone's needs while protecting the fragile caribou herds.

"Whether that be a small harvest, for ceremonial purposes, from a group of caribou that can sustain it, and not the ones that are in jeopardy," he said. "Or we got to enforce the law. At some point in time, you gotta get right down to it, and enforcing law might be the only answer."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 12, 2021.

-- With files from Sidhartha Banerjee