Eminol | Norway | Sweden | Denmark | Sikunews | Hindi | Tamil | Polsk

Friday 03.09.2010

Alaska: keep out of traditional hunts

A Point Hope, Alaska resident takes up the defense of hunters accused of butchering caribou and leaving the meat.

The State of Alaska has no right to stop the Indigenous people from protecting themselves of harvesting sickly or cancerous animals taken on subsistence hunts.



These Indigenous people have been following the same hunting practices since the first of their kind and they know exactly what they are doing when they are hunting on their Ancestral lands. If something appears to be wrong with an animal harvested or if the animal appears to have a serious sickness of some kind then there should be no question on whether or not these animals are fit for consumption.

The United States has set the standards for better health and safety management practices and uses the FDA as a tool to implement these practices for the best interest of the people. There are also Food Inspectors that determine whether or not the meat or food is safe for the public to eat every day.

Farmers who produce livestock and cattle for consumption dispose of any animals at the first sight of a serious illness and that is considered common practice. This is understood by the general public since it is only common sense to protect people from contracting serious illness from disease contaminated food sources. Now are these farmers being charged with waste and threatened to be banned from subsistence hunting for five years, spending up to one year in jail and paying up to $10,000.00 for each animal wasted?

The U.S. destroys millions upon millions of pounds of meat every year just because the date on the sticker expires and the meat may still be good enough to eat yet a few Native Alaskan hunters are ridiculed and prosecuted for leaving sick contaminated animals in the wilderness. Is this also wasting meat to the general public?

The Rural communities in the State of Alaska have no FDA in place to provide a safety net for protection and naturally these people have to determine good meat from bad meat.

The State of Alaska Fish and Game needs to recognize that the indigenous people have established these hunting practices far before the State of Alaska was established.

There should not be any chances taken when it comes to the safety of the hunter and the men, women and children they are subsisting for whether they are Native or Non-native.

It surprises me that the State would establish a law which would aim towards Sportsman Hunters wasting meat and only taking the trophy heads and then totally disregard the safety of the people who depend on these animals for survival.

The State cares not about the health and protection of the people who depend on subsistence but the Sportsman hunters wasting their trophy meat and will attempt to prosecute a person for protecting his people from potentially hazardous food sources.

The State of Alaska Fish and Game currently makes it impossible for any hunter to leave an animal in the field and requires that you must take the animal home even if it is contagious with disease. That is the Law. Now what should a person do with a biohazard when it is taken back to the community? The State Fish and Game tells everyone that although the meat may contain contagious diseases that they can be cured by cooking thoroughly. Now why isn’t the same practice being applied towards all the outdated meat being thrown away in Anchorage or Juneau?

I strongly believe that no hunter should have to bring home a diseased animal whether they are Native or Non-native. No one should have to risk handling diseased meat. We need to make this change for you and me both not just Indigenous People but all people have this right. Everyone seems to be able to protect themselves from diseased meat but the rural subsistence hunters in Alaska are forced to bring home diseased animals that are unfit for consumption. This is wrong and has to be corrected. The people who rely on subsistence serve a far more important purpose than the Sportsman Hunters who are out hunting for big trophies and stories to brag about at the next campfire.

Subsistence is our way of life and it is all we have for resources in rural areas. It needs to be approached in both a safer and healthier manner and also common sense always has to be applied at some point.

Let it also be known that in Point Hope there are nearly a thousand people who depend on subsistence hunting every summer because the animals are very scarce during the winter and in Point Hope there is no massacre during our subsistence summer hunt but only a few weeks of harvest that supplies meat for an upcoming long cold winter. Just as any other village in our area we harvest our meat for the winter and we share what we have with the needy and everyone values their meat. To hear of such exaggerated numbers of wasted animals was unbelievable since everyone strives to take home as much meat as possible.

What really disturbs me about this whole global misunderstanding is how an exaggerated and bias media jumps at any given chance to destroy a person’s reputation as well as a community’s good name overnight for the sake of exaggerating headline news. Those that did not do any wrong doing but only protected themselves should be considered.

Aqquilluk Hank Sr.