The caribou emerged from the spruce trees in the distance, unmistakable with its creamy white neck and huge antlers. Behind it, the autumn sun was setting on a low mountain range and faintly illuminating a forest lake in a picturesque Canadian moment.

In the dying light, the animal looked as majestic as it does on Canada’s quarter — and just as motionless. In fact, it wasn’t a living creature after all, but a life-size fiberglass replica from a store along one of Quebec’s main highways.

“It was love at first sight,” said Jean-Luc Kanapé, explaining that he had bought it because caribou had nearly disappeared from the ancestral lands of Mr. Kanapé’s Indigenous group, the Innu, in remote Quebec. “I wanted people to be able to see what it looks like, because when I talk about the caribou, sometimes it’s as if I’m talking about a ghost.”

Until a couple of generations ago, thousands of woodland caribou roamed the forest where Mr. Kanapé’s statue now stands.

Today, maybe 200 are left.

ImageJean-Luc Kanapé’s fiberglass replica of a woodland caribou.

This herd and two smaller ones are now the subject of an acrimonious dispute between the Canadian and Quebec governments over how to protect one of the country’s iconic animals.

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