Are wildlife diseases being covered up?

My son-in-law arrived back from hunting at 8 p.m.

A few hours south from Kuujjuaraapik, near Long Island, the three hunters noticed a few seals lying quietly along an ice bank and they decided to approach.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have to kill them and bring the prizes home to feed some members of the community. These five seals were already dead! Some were half-eaten by foxes.

They didn’t want to take the risk of touching the carcasses, due to possible diseases. They turned around and asked themselves what may have happened.

The long open slit in the ice which is there every year, could it be possible that these dead seals had been trapped while out of the water and the high tide closed the only way in too soon?

None of the hunters had to deal with such a situation in the past and above all, none of them heard about a similar collective death.

On their way back, they find caribou tracks. As they reached for the three caribou and as they approached them, they all knew that they could get one each and that it may be their last chance for now.

Feeling somewhat sad and worried about the rest of the herd, which don’t happen to roam around, they realize that they will soon be dealing with the fact of having to skin three skeletons, as there is hardly any fat covering these survivors.

Yes, my son-in-law, one of the best hunters of Kuujjuaraapik, and his two friends are not very happy about what they’ve seen.

He still wonders what is happening to the ways he was raised and to the future of hunting and eating his traditional food. He seems sad when we discuss about all sorts of possibilities. Could it be that some facts about diseases such as SARS and bacteriological bombs which could affect our wildlife, are being hidden from us?

Is there anyone really hiding something from the real natives of this continent?

As far as I am concerned and the way that I have personally observed the cover up of lies and deceit from the rich strangers who just think about money and scrutinizing our natural resources for more and more cash.

I feel that the time has come when the Inuit leaders should quit accepting anything that’s being presented to them in different forms.

Sad weekend at hunting and sadder life coming ahead due to lack of leadership. Think about the very basic things in life and the most important – the people and the culture.

Danielle Siouiu
Kuujjuaraapik