KITIKMEOT - To see what more could be done with fur, Kugluktuk's Ida Kapakapoak, who works on wolf, wolverine, caribou, polar bear, rabbit and squirrels, attended a fur handling workshop offered in her community earlier this month.

She was one of 110 people attending one of six workshops offered by the territorial government, where participants learned how to prepare pelts for the taxidermy market.

Kapakapoak usually uses her ulu to scrape the meat and fat off a pelt but she said she will now try using sawdust.

"The way they take sawdust to skin and the way they scrape the fat off, it looks easier than the way I used to do (it)," she said. "I really enjoyed going there because I could learn more about different ways of doing work."

The workshop's goal was to improve the quality of Nunavut fur and increase income for hunters and trappers, said Devin Imrie, of the Department of Environment's Fisheries and Sealing Division. He added the workshop focused on the preparation of wolf, wolverine and bear pelts for sale to the taxidermy market, a top-end market.

"They're willing to pay more than anyone else for those products," he said. "Nunavut produces some of the world's best wolf and wolverine and bear (pelts) but the requirements taxidermists have for how a pelt has to be handled, those differ from the way many harvesters traditionally prepared their pelts."

The four-hour workshops were taught by expert fur handlers and fur graders from Fur Harvesters Auction in North Bay, Ont., teaching the participants how to properly clean and dry pelts, said Imrie.

"The animals themselves are very good quality but taxidermists require the entire pelt be intact. It has to have every claw attached. It has to have the ears properly dried, the lips properly dried," he said. "It's the attention to detail on making sure that every part of the hide is intact and has been properly dried."

A fur sold to the taxidermy market, where pelts are mounted as whole animals, can potentially double its value, said Imrie, with Canada, China and Russia being large markets. He added demand currently exceeds the supply.

Workshops were given March 1 and 2 in Kugluktuk, March 3 and 4 in Kugaaruk and March 5 in Gjoa Haven, workshops attended by 41 people. Others were offered in Rankin Inlet, Baker Lake and Arviat this past January. All were well received, said Imrie.

"There was a lot of interest. We found the participants are highly skilled," he said. "All we had to do was show them a few of these tips and techniques and we're already seeing an immediate improvement in the fur that is being sent to the auction house."

Cedric Anguti, a 47-year-old hunter in Kugaaruk, who harvests mainly bears, said he attended the workshop to increase job opportunities.

In Gjoa Haven, Willie Aglukkaq hunts caribou, muskox and polar bear. He came to the workshop with his 14-year-old son to better understand the different ways of preparing fur, he said.

"All the ideas are basically the same but the tools that they work with, it's a lot different from the traditional tools,"

He added for instance, he learned to remove fat with saw dust.

"It (workshop) was very helpful," he said. "He (my son) enjoyed it."

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