Nunavik Inuit demand closure of Leaf River caribou sports hunt – NunatsiaqOnline
December 20, 2016
New survey shows Leaf River herd has shrunk by more than half in five years
Nunavik Inuit and other Indigenous groups in northern Quebec have sounded the alarm over the rapid decline of the Leaf River caribou herd and they’re urging the Quebec government to put an immediate end to its sports hunt.
A survey, conducted by Quebec government biologists this past summer and presented to a wildlife committee last week, estimates that the Leaf River herd, numbered at 430,000 animals in 2011, has dwindled to a population of about 199,000.
A drop of more than half of the herd’s numbers is troubling, but Indigenous groups in northern Quebec say they’re even more concerned that the province plans to continue handing out sports hunt permits.
