N.W.T. government investigating the waste of 48 caribou

Wildlife officers say meat wastage along the ice road to the diamond mines has risen sharply this winter with nine cases affecting 48 caribou compared to last winter, where a total of 15 caribou were found wasted.

Shannon Graf, a spokesperson for the territory's Department of Environment and Climate Change (ECC), described it as a "significant" increase in wasted meat — and said an investigation is taking place.

Community monitors and guardianship programs run by the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, the Tłı̨cho government and the North Slave Métis Alliance support the territory's renewable resource officers along the Tibbitt to Contwoyto winter road to respond to illegal or disrespectful harvesting, said Graf. 

Ernest Betsina, the chief of Dettah for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, said he was disappointed to hear of the spike in meat wastage, and that the First Nation would be upping its patrols of the area even earlier next winter road season. 

Guardians are the "eyes and ears out on the land," said Betsina, but they cannot be everywhere. 

He said guardianship programs and elders teach hunters to leave only the guts behind.

"I'm disappointed that there is so much wastage of meat. I don't know what happened out there, but I'm hoping that the [government of the Northwest Territories] will do a good investigation to actually find out exactly who the hunters are that actually wasted the meat," said Betsina.

Betsina said hunters from all around N.W.T. should make a plan for how many caribou each family will take, and he'd like his members to limit the number of caribou taken per household to two or three animals. He said it's a rule most Yellowknives Dene First Nation hunters follow, even if it is not a formally imposed limit. 

"Caribou is sacred. The caribou numbers are not that great and we need to respect that," he said. He said taking only prime cuts of meat and wasting the rest of the animal is "really disrespectful."

"It shows somebody didn't do the planning or somebody who went trigger-happy and shot too much caribou. It's such a shame to see that," said Betsina. 

Wastage is 'lazy' and 'unethical', says hunter 

Devon Allooloo, a hunter from the Yellowknife area, posted a photo on the Facebook group, Inuit Hunting Stories of the Day, of caribou he'd seen wasted along the winter road in the N.W.T. recently. In an interview, he said he's seen animals with only the hind quarters or the backstap removed, and even animals that have been shot and wasted in their entirety. 

"It's a little sickening to see, and it's tiring to see. I grew up on the barrenlands," he said. "I don't want to call other people out ... but I think it's lazy and it's unethical for people to be wasting that amount of meat."

Allooloo said people should be taking the hind and front quarters, backstraps, tenderloin and ribs. Even then, people in town would gladly take the head, tongue, heart, liver and kidney meat, he said.

"I think a hunter should take everything. I think the only thing that should be left behind is the stomach, the organs."

Allooloo said he worries people are shooting more animals than they need in the N.W.T.

"Only harvest what you need and what your family needs," he said.

Graf said ECC plans to continue aerial and ground patrols along the winter road and to work with guardians until the season ends. She said the N.W.T. government investigates all reported cases of meat wastage and asks the public to report suspected meat wastage.

She said the department recorded 10 caribou wasted in the winter of 2021/22, none in 2022/23 and 15 in 2023/24. 

"While we cannot comment on the details of ongoing investigations, we continue to urge people to take only what you need, don't leave anything behind, share what you have when you get back to your community and listen and learn from elders," she said.