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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Officials at the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources are looking for answers after a large quantity of big game meat was found abandoned along the highway near Yellowknife late last month.

Wildlife officers from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources are asking for the public's help in identifying who would have left these approximately 30 packages - about 30 kg - of frozen moose meat along Highway 3 late last month. - photo courtesy of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources

"It's mind boggling really, I don't quite understand it," said Ian Ellsworth, a renewable resource officer with the department. "Usually, when we find instances like this it's when somebody's freezer breaks down or something like that and the meat spoils."

On Sept. 26, wildlife officers followed up on a call alerting them to a large quantity of big game meat that appeared abandoned on the side of the highway, said Ellsworth.

What they found was at least 30 kg of packaged moose meat at kilometre 319 on Highway 3, about 15 km west of Yellowknife.

"The majority of it was still frozen and it didn't appear to be spoiled or damaged," said Ellsworth.

The meat had already been butchered and wrapped in brown butcher's paper into about 30 separate packages, some of which had initials written on them, said Ellsworth. It appeared to be fresh, likely from a harvest this year.

However, the meat is no longer fit for human consumption because some of the packages had attracted the attention of ravens and other scavengers, he said.

The Wildlife Act prohibits the wastage of meat from all big game fit for human consumption other than bear, wolf, coyote or wolverine meat. Violation of this section, 57(1), is a ticketable offence that carries a fine of $575.

Beyond the fact that the act of dumping meat is illegal, it is the wastefulness of abandoning food that is still fit to eat that Ellsworth finds particularly troubling about this case.

"Wild game is a huge resource in the NWT and provides food to a lot of families and we don't want to see that resource wasted," he said. "The moose population is not that high around Yellowknife and to see someone harvest a moose and then dump the moose is pretty discouraging."

Generally, wildlife officers deal with two or three incidents of wasted large game meat per year in the North Slave, said Ellsworth.

However, the vast majority of these cases involves the illegal dumping of meat after it had already spoiled.

"Now we're trying to find out who dumped it and why," said Ellsworth.

"We don't have a lot of leads so we're looking for public assistance."

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to phone wildlife officers directly at 873-7181 or the poaching tip line at 1-866-POACHER, he said.

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