Reindeer Blog

In Iqaluit, Nunavut, a national scientific advisory board Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) has recommended that the federal government place the Peary caribou on the endangered species list.

photo courtesy of John Nagy/GNWT

This recommendation was disputed local hunters and trappers, even though the numbers do speak of of a steady decline over time.

“The Peary Caribou is not endangered,” said Larry Audlaluk, a director with the Iviq Hunters and Trappers Association in Grise Fiord. “The cycle of Peary caribou in the high Arctic is not like your regular caribou in other parts of the north.” “The Peary caribou has never been big in population,” Audlaluk said. “What really hurts me is when traditional knowledge is not taken seriously” Read the rest of the story..

COSEWIC says that it will include more traditional aboriginal knowledge in its work, addressing these very concerns from aboriginal people that their voices aren’t heard by scientists.

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