5 N.W.T. hunters charged with wasting caribou meat

Five people from the Northwest Territories are facing charges of wasting caribou meat, after dozens of animal carcasses were recently found near Wekweti and the old Colomac mine site in the territory's Tlicho region.

Wasting and abandoning the meat of hunted wildlife, allowing it to spoil, is an offence in the territory.

In this case, wildlife officials said they found only very little taken from the animals.

"We found 25 caribou ... out of the 25 [there were] 15 with just the quarters and backstraps removed, and 11 with nothing taken at all," North Slave wildlife manager Fred Mandeville told CBC News Tuesday.

"There were some not even skinned, just the head cut off."

A number of other caribou carcasses were found with just the front quarters, necks or rumps removed, he added.

Hunters have reported hundreds of caribou wandering close to Wekweti, a Tlicho community located about 200 kilometres north of Yellowknife.

Mandeville said officials are investigating another eight reports of meat wastage in the Tlicho region.

"I don't understand what's all this wastage is about, because I firstly don't leave nothing out there, and to see whole animals left out there is pretty disgusting," Mandeville said.

"You always hear the aboriginal people saying, 'We respect the animal,' and stuff and, 'We use everything we get.' Well, I guess not everybody practises that."

Hunters found to have wasted game meat can be fined $500.