SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The recent discovery of a large amount of caribou meat left to rot near Hottah Lake has some Yellowknifers seeing red three years after the territorial government banned the residential hunt outside of the city.
Renewable resources officer Ian Ellsworth displays some of the wasted caribou meat discovered near Gameti. These 25 front shoulders were found on Hottah Lake, about 90 km northwest of Gameti. This was not the only meat found at this site, and this was just one of 12 sites where wasted caribou parts were found by Environment and Natural Resources officers, said Ellsworth. - photo courtesy of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources |
"I think this is a disgrace," said Martin Knutson of the edible parts of at least 50 caribou that were found left behind. "It's a double-standard system we're faced with, and I think the resident hunters feel very much discriminated against with what's gone on."
Knutson, president of the NWT Wildlife Federation, has not been able to hunt caribou since an emergency hunting ban came into effect on Jan. 1, 2010 due to declining herd numbers that recorded a drop to 32,000 Bathurst caribou from 128,000 in 2006.
The last time non-aboriginal hunters were allowed to harvest caribou, there were just 65 tags given out.
"So, this represents just about all of the resident hunt," said Knutson, referring to the number of caribou slaughtered.
The only way to rectify what happened is if officials find those responsible and charge them, said former outfitter Barry Taylor, whose business Arctic Safaris was essentially shut down in 2009 because of the hunting ban.
"From a resident sport hunter's point of view, I think this is going to be really interesting to watch and see what comes out of this," he said. "It's just a shame to hear about this kind of wastage when there are supposed to be conservation practices on."
Between April 24 and 27, Department of Environment and Natural Resources officers on patrol near Gameti located 12 separate sites where perfectly good caribou parts had been abandoned illegally. These sites were scattered near the south shore of Hottah Lake, located roughly 90 km northwest of Gameti, and the north end of nearby Beaver Lodge Lake.
From the animal parts that were recovered, ENR estimated at least 50 animals were involved, said Ian Ellsworth, a renewable resource officer for the North Slave.
"Different sites had different things left behind. Some sites, they'd take just the hind quarters and leave the rest of it. Some sites they'd take some hind quarters and some front shoulders and things like that," he said. "Some, they'd just take all the four quarters and just leave the rib cage - not even gut it."
"A significant amount" of the carcasses were pregnant females, he said. Some of the fetuses had been left behind, while there was evidence others had been taken.
The killing of pregnant female caribou signifies a lack of concern for the health of the herd, said Taylor.
"I can't believe anybody would go out to hunt cows after December. It's one of the first rules in conservation," he said.
Ellsworth could not offer an estimate on the exact amount of meat found, but there was nothing to indicate it had spoiled or offer a reason as to why it was left behind.
It is estimated these carcasses were brought down within the past month, he said. None of the meat found could be recovered and so it was left for animal scavengers.
Not only is abandoning edible meat a waste, it is illegal.
Under the Wildlife Act, the only parts of a caribou that are legally allowed to be left in the bush are the head, the entrails, the legs below the knee joint and any blood shot meat - meaning it has bruising, hemorrhaging or other obvious damage from the bullet that took down the animal.
Non-compliance with these rules can result in a $575 ticket, or if ENR decides to press charges, an individual can face a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and up to one year in jail per animal involved.
The amount of carcasses and number of sites suggests there was more than one group of hunters involved, said Ellsworth.
Officials do have "a couple of suspects," he said, but he urged anyone who knows anything about what happened to contact their local resource officer or to call ENR's anonymous poaching tip line.
These animals are believed to belong to the Bluenose-East herd, which spent most of the winter near Hottah Lake, said Ellsworth.
The herd numbered around 100,000 animals when surveyed in 2010.
All resident, aboriginal and commercial hunting of the Bluenose-East herd was suspended in January 2010. A limited aboriginal harvest resumed in December 2010 after a hearing before the Wek'eezhii Renewable Resources Board.
However, the wildlife zone where these caribou were shot - zone RBC 01 - is open to an unlimited aboriginal harvest, while nearby zones RBC 02 and RBC 03 are limited to an aboriginal harvest of 150 animals apiece.
"It's just wrong on so many levels. It's totally disrespectful for the animal itself," said Ellsworth. "There are lots of people in our communities, both aboriginal and non-aboriginal, who want caribou meat and can't have it."
