ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Local government is helping pay the legal bill for eight men accused of wasting the meat of caribou shot near the village of Point Hope, it was reported Wednesday.
North Slope Borough is putting up $56,000 in the case that features a clash of cultures between the state and the Arctic hunters.
The misdemeanor charges accuse the men of indiscriminately gunning down caribou as they came across them on the Arctic tundra near Point Hope in July 2008.
More than 100 caribou were killed, and Alaska Wildlife Troopers documented at least 37 that had been wasted, according to court documents.
ADVERTISEMENT
The defendants and regional leaders say the state is wrong to apply the rules of trophy hunting to subsistence hunting, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
The men all live in Point Hope, an Inupiat Eskimo community, and have pleaded not guilty. No trial date has been set.
The borough's involvement in the legal defense was disclosed in letter to the village included in court documents. Mayor Edward Itta told the Anchorage Daily News he was not aware of the letter but agreed with its contents.
"My purpose is to defend our people in whatever wrong may be applied to them," he said.
The men told a government informant or troopers themselves that the caribou were left on the tundra because of suspected disease, problems transporting them home or, in one case, because they "shot it too much," the documents state.
"The way we hunt was told to us from our forefathers," says a handwritten statement filed in court, the signature on which appears to belong to one of the defendants.
"What was told to me was if the caribous are sick to leave it alone, don't take nothing home unless you want to get sick or die," it reads. "But always cut the head off the caribou. I believe cutting the head off the caribou or any animal is being respectful to them."
State officials contend there is only one set of laws governing hunting, and it doesn't allow for waste.
"Even if you believe it to be bad, it still has to be harvested," troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said.
Itta said subsistence hunters should follow the law, but the law needs to be changed.
"That is not right what is going on, calling it wanton waste when it's in the best interest of the public to not bring in a sick animal," Itta said.
Charged with wanton waste, failure to salvage meat, or both are Lazarus C. Killigvuk, 25; Randy John Oktollik, 26; Roy Oktollik, 19; Brett Oktollik, 21; Koomalook M. Stone, 18; Chester W. Koonuk, 30; Aqquilluk Hank, 30; and Roy A. Miller Jr., 20.
___
Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com