No surprize here! The same thing happened in Winter of 1977 or '78. The hunters would go out on snow machines, find a bunch of caribou and shoot as many as they could. They would take home all they could, then go back for the rest. If they found more caribou closer to the village though, they shot them so they wouldn't have to haul the meat so far, and left what they had originally shot to rot. Come Spring and there were piles of dead caribou all over the place. About the same time the Arctic caribou herd population took a nose dive is why Fish & Game was up there checking things out. Otherwise no one would have known....
-WH-
Caribou slaughter leaves calves stranded
Meat from at least 60 of 120 carcasses wasted by village hunters
By JAMES HALPIN
jhalpin@adn.com
Published: July 29th, 2008 12:02 AM
Last Modified: July 29th, 2008 01:37 AM
Hunters from the villages of Point Hope and Kivalina are suspected of massacring more than 100 caribou and leaving at least half of them to rot on the tundra earlier this month, according to Alaska Wildlife Troopers.
Investigators arriving at the scene found a total of 120 carcasses scattered along a 40-mile trail about 25 miles east of Point Hope, prompting them to call the killings "by far the worst case of blatant waste" they have ever seen, according to a trooper spokesperson.
The meat from at least 60 animals had been either partially wasted or not even touched, troopers said. Most still had their developing antlers intact. Calves were left stranded, some still trying to suckle milk from the decomposing cows two weeks after the slaughter.
Troopers have so far identified five suspects and think there could be many more, but the investigation has been stymied by an apparent lack of cooperation from village officials, troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said. "In a community that size, it's hard to not know what's going on, but they refused to come forward with that information," Ipsen said. "We wish we had more cooperation from the community, and it's disappointing."
At a meeting between troopers and elders last week, investigators showed elders photos of the bulls, cows and cows with calves that had been left to waste as they explained why they were there and appealed for cooperation, Ipsen said.
"Even the elders were pretty stunned by this much waste," she said. "When we had a community meeting and showed them the photos, the room went silent."
But when investigators returned Sunday evening, no names had surfaced. All of the suspects have been identified because of troopers' police work, she said. The suspects, who range in age from 17 to 25, have not yet been charged because the cases were being forwarded to the district attorney's office for review.
Officials in Point Hope could not be reached for comment Monday. Last week, as news of the slaughter began to leak out, Point Hope Mayor Steve Oomittuk said in an interview that the town would not tolerate the killings and that it was contrary to the villagers' subsistence lifestyle. He said the town was committed to finding out who was responsible.
Point Hope is an Inupiat Eskimo village of 700 people 330 miles southwest of Barrow, an area considered one of the longest continuously occupied in the state.
Like other area Bush communities, the village relies heavily on the 377,000-strong Western Arctic Caribou Herd, which passed through an area about 25 miles to its east at the beginning of the month, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
The killings took place July 4-8 -- during the open hunting season when residents are allowed five caribou per day, Ipsen said.
Troopers in Kotzebue didn't get the report of the mass killings until July 16, and three investigators arrived in the village three days later to begin combing the area by helicopter and all-terrain vehicle, she said. It was clear that multiple hunting parties were involved and they were from the area -- there is no indication air taxis or other transporters were in the field at the time, she said.
In the end, investigators were able to confirm at least 60 of the 120 caribou had been wasted.
"There could have been more," Ipsen said. "The other ones were so heavily scavenged and eaten that we couldn't tell."
A motive for the killings remains unclear.
Troopers are asking for the public's help in identifying suspects. Troopers in Kotzebue can be reached at 1-907-442-3222. Anonymous tips can be called in to the Alaska Wildlife Safeguard hotline at 1-800-478-3377.
